Jeff Garlin on his mental health crisis and recovery after leaving The Goldbergs

Jeff Garlin, the guy you know from Curb Your Enthusiasm and Daddy Day Care, just sat down with Ted Danson on the "Where Everybody Knows Your Name" podcast and talked about one of the darkest periods of his life. In 2021, he was written off ABC's The Goldbergs following an HR investigation into workplace conduct allegations. When it happened, Garlin told Vanity Fair his behavior on set was "silly and kind and thoughtful," and he didn't see how it created an unsafe environment. Co-star Wendi McLendon-Covey disputed that account, saying she and others on the crew remember it differently.

What came next was worse than the exit itself. Garlin said he had a nervous breakdown and found himself in a place where he thought about ending it all. At one point, he called Susie Essman from Curb and told her he planned to be dead by noon. Essman didn't sit with that—she reached out to Garlin's ex-wife Marla and his girlfriend Sari Tracht, who contacted his friend Brad Morris. That chain of people who actually gave a damn got Garlin to a mental health facility in Cincinnati, where he spent time in the winter months getting dialectical behavior therapy (DBT).

In September 2022, at age 60, Garlin was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. He told Danson he's doing well now—says he feels good, content, and creatively fulfilled. That's the update.

The Radazoid take

Here's what stands out: Garlin didn't pretend it didn't happen, didn't hide in the house, and didn't wait for someone else to tell the story first. He sat across from another guy and said it straight—I was broken, I wanted out, and people I knew stepped in when it mattered. That's the kind of thing you don't hear enough from guys our age. We grew up being told to tough it out, suck it up, handle your own problems. The culture around us didn't leave much room for "I need help" and "I'm not okay." Garlin's willingness to say it, and to name the specific people who wouldn't let him disappear, matters more than whatever happened on that set.

Mental health isn't weakness. A diagnosis at 60 isn't a failure—it's an answer. And the fact that he got treatment and is talking about it now means someone listening to that podcast who's in the same hole might make the call he made. That's worth something. The workplace dispute is what it is; the recovery is what counts.