Jeff Garlin has disclosed that he nearly took his own life after his 2021 ouster from “The Goldbergs.”
The comedian, 64, detailed the episode during Wednesday’s installment of the “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” podcast, telling host Ted Danson that the upheaval sent him into a spiral that required emergency intervention. Garlin was dropped from the ABC sitcom following an internal investigation into claims of misconduct and “abusive” conduct toward colleagues.
“I had a nervous breakdown, and I was going to commit suicide,” Garlin said. He recounted placing a call to Susie Essman, his longtime co-star on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” to deliver what he intended as a final message. “I hate when people don’t reach out, but at noon today, I will be dead. I’m letting you know I will be dead,” he recalled telling her. Essman then contacted Garlin’s ex-wife, Marla, and his girlfriend, Sari Tracht, who enlisted Brad Morris, described as “one of my best friends,” to keep watch over him while they located a treatment facility.
Garlin noted that his bipolar disorder, which he was diagnosed with at age 60 in September 2022, had gone undetected throughout his tenure on “The Goldbergs.” After completing the Cincinnati program and re-entering daily life, he continued with DBT and standard therapy sessions, took up boxing, and gradually rebuilt his equilibrium. He characterized the aftermath as a prolonged recovery, observing that he is “just now,” five years removed from the crisis, “feeling really good.”
His creative output has included “Best Seat in the House: Moments No One Asked Me to Capture … But I Did Anyway,” which arrived September 15. “I’m very content, and I’m very creatively fulfilled. I’m personally fulfilled. [I have] my wonderful girlfriend. I have great children. I have a great ex-wife. I have great friends. Like, it’s all good, man, but that was dark,” he shared.
Essman, in remarks to reporters after Garlin’s 2022 disclosure, indicated he was “working hard to manage it.” Yet Wendi McLendon-Covey, who portrayed Garlin’s onscreen spouse Beverly Goldberg for the sitcom’s entire run, has publicly rejected his framing that untreated bipolar illness explained the conduct that led to his removal. “Let’s just say I remember things very differently, as do the crew, the other actors, the writers and our executives,” she said.
The original incident that triggered Garlin’s departure occurred in 2021, when ABC launched a human-resources probe into multiple complaints about his behavior during production. The investigation culminated in his character, Murray Goldberg, being written out mid-season; the show continued for two additional seasons without him before concluding in 2023.
Garlin’s podcast appearance marks his most extensive accounting to date of the personal toll exacted by the professional rupture.
