Wendi McLendon-Covey was surprised how much attention she received for skipping the Bridesmaids reunion at the 2026 Oscars due to her neck lift.
“That was certainly a surprise to me,” McLendon-Covey, 57, exclusively told Us on the set of Celebrity Weakest Link. “I can’t believe anybody cared.”
McLendon-Covey didn’t expect her skipping out on the awards show to become a trending topic, but she thought it was “hilarious.”
“That’s so odd [and] weird, but OK,” the comedian told Us, saying she was feeling “really good” after the procedure.
Earlier this year, Bridesmaids stars Kristen Wiig, Rose Byrne, Melissa McCarthy, Maya Rudolph and Ellie Kemper reunited at the Oscars to celebrate 15 years since director Paul Feig’s comedy hit theaters and became a box office success.
McLendon-Covey later took to social media to address why she wasn’t on stage with her former costars.
“In response to some of the DMs I’m getting: I had a neck lift last week because I’m tired of looking like a melting candle,” she wrote via Instagram alongside a selfie of her head covered in bandages. “So I had to skip the Academy Awards. No drama. Everything is fine. 😘.”
While speaking with Us, McLendon-Covey didn’t rule out another Bridesmaids reunion in the future. “Life is long,” she said. “Who knows what could happen? … But everybody’s busy working. We got two [of us] on Broadway.”
The actress acknowledged that there could even be a Bridesmaids-themed episode of Celebrity Weakest Link someday.
“There’s so many options. I watched an episode where it was doctors — TV doctors against real doctors,” she recalled. “That would be a good one. It’s such a fun show and such an iconic show. So I’m just happy I got to do this at all. It could be medical comedies against medical dramas.”
For now, McLendon-Covey is thrilled to join fellow comedians Nicole Byer, Heather McMahan, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Sasheer Zamata, Zarna Garg, Judy Gold and Ms. Pat in the game show’s Ladies Who Laugh episode.
“I remember being a little girl and watching comedians and just being like, ‘Oh, my God, if I could ever make anybody feel this happy, I would love to do that,’” she recalled. “So that’s a very early memory for me is that I don’t know what this life is like, but I’m going in that direction. So it took me a long time to get there, but I think that’s true with a lot of things.”
Celebrity Weakest Link airs on Fox Mondays at 9 p.m. ET.
