Jeff Garlin is opening up about his exit from The Goldbergs.
“When the producer of the show came to my house [after] I was done, [I] didn’t want to go back. He said, ‘What would it take for you to go back?’” Garlin, 64, recalled on the Wednesday, October 21, episode of the “Where Everybody Knows Your Name” podcast. “I said, ‘A big raise and I work one day a week.’ They said, ‘Yes,’ and if it sounds too good to be true, it’s too good to be true.”
He continued, “I had resentment from my castmates, not as much the crew, but there were some of them [who harbored] great resentment. I didn’t know it at the time, though. I was naïve. I didn’t know they knew anything about anything.”
Garlin, who played patriarch Murray Goldberg, was written off the 10th season amid an HR investigation into his behind-the-scenes behavior after complaints of alleged verbal misconduct. (Garlin has vehemently denied the accusations.)
Before his character was killed off, Garlin explained that he initially agreed to film seven episodes in two days at a time.
“At first I’m like, ‘Yeah, great.’ And then I think, ‘I don’t want to be dead man walking around that set.’ And then, ‘No, I’ll do it,’” he told podcast host Ted Danson. “I had a nervous breakdown and I was going to commit suicide. I reached out to Susie [Essman], and I said, ‘I hate when people don’t reach out, but at noon today, I will be dead. I’m letting you know.’”
His Curb Your Enthusiasm costar Essman, 71, subsequently called Jeff’s ex-wife, Marla Garlin, and the comedian’s girlfriend, Sari Tracht, who reached out to his best friend Brad Morris.
“He watched me while they were looking for a place for me to go, and the choices came down to two places that could be helpful for me, with all the research they were doing and talking to people,” Jeff said, noting his friends found treatment facilities with vacancies in California and Ohio, respectively. “Middle of winter, I went to Cincinnati because I was serious. I’m not going to some f***ing rehab in Beverly Hills. F*** that, man.”
During Jeff’s stint at the Cincinnati-based facility, he underwent dialectic behavior therapy (DBT) that apparently helped the actor deal with his depressive thoughts.
“I was no longer suicidal, they helped get me to a point where I could stand,” he added. “Then, I went out in the world and it took time between therapy and medication for bipolar [disorder and] all that stuff to where I felt, kind of, whole. I’m just now, this is from five years ago, feeling really good.”
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