Wendi McLendon-Covey Missed The Bridesmaids Reunion At The Oscars Due To 'Neck Lift' Surgery

Bridesmaids actor Wendi McLendon-Covey has shared the real reason she didn’t join her former co-stars at the Oscars over the weekend.

Over the weekend, the Bridesmaids cast took part in a skit at the Academy Awards to commemorate the film’s 15th anniversary.

However, fans quickly noticed that the group was one bridesmaid down, with Wendi not joining Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Melissa McCarthy, Rose Byrne and Ellie Kemper at the event.

At the time, director Paul Feig claimed: “I just heard that she was not available. She might even be travelling, I’m not sure. But we will miss her terribly, because I love Wendi.”

Since then, Wendi has set the record straight on her absence, revealing that she actually couldn’t attend as she is recovering from cosmetic surgery.

“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. So I had to skip the Academy Awards,” she told her Instagram followers.

“No drama. Everything is fine.”

In the years since her break-out performance as Rita in Bridesmaids, Wendi has appeared in hit shows like The Goldbergs and St. Denis Medical.

Rose Byrne attended this year’s Oscars as a nominee, off the back of her much-lauded performance in the dark comedy If I Had Legs I’d Kick You.

Meanwhile, One Battle After Another was the big winner at the 2026 Academy Awards, written and directed by Maya Rudolph’s long-term partner, filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson.

Upon its release in 2011, Bridesmaids was nominated for two Oscars, with Melissa McCarthy receiving an acting nod in the Best Supporting Actress category, and screenwriters Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo also landing a Best Original Screenplay nod.

You can check out the Bridesmaids reunion at Sunday night’s Oscars for yourself in the video below: