‘Brady Bunch’ Star Maureen McCormick’s Shocking Revelations About Drugs, Acting, and Kissing Greg Brady
Although the life of a Brady Bunch kid might seem like nothing but Hawaiian vacations, slumber parties, and failed football tosses, a peek behind the curtain has revealed that fame and fortune at an early age took its toll on the young cast, particularly Maureen McCormick, who played Marcia Brady.
During the filming of the iconic television series and many years after, McCormick wrestled with numerous demons to get her life back on track. Through a series of television appearances, published interviews, and tell-all books about her experience, McCormick revealed that being a Brady was far more difficult than anyone could have ever imagined.
Here are but a few details the actress shared about her struggles caused by growing up Brady.
1 She developed a horrific drug addiction
Courtesy: Everett Collection
According to the actress, she developed an “all-encompassing” addiction to cocaine at the age of 20.
“I have a brother who was an addict. It runs in my family, so I think it would have happened. I grew up in the ’70s, which was an experimental time, so I was an experimental kind of soul. I would have fallen into it anyway,” said the actress.
While the show wasn’t directly responsible for her drug use, it placed her in situations in which she was ill-equipped to deal with sudden fame, intense pressure, and the lack of a support system, all of which exacerbated her struggles.
“I got into it through a boyfriend, who was friends with people who did drugs. I have a very addictive personality. I know that now,” said McCormick.
“I sought refuge in seemingly glamorous cocaine dens above Hollywood. I thought I would find answers there, while in reality, I was simply running farther from myself. From there, I spiraled downward on a path of self-destruction that cost me my career and very nearly my life,’ she wrote in her autobiography, Here’s the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice.
McCormick stated that she hit rock bottom while filming 1981’s spin-off series The Brady Brides, but it was there that she met actor Jerry Houser, who played her husband. She started attending church with him, and he helped her get clean. Through the church, she met her husband, Michael Cummings, who further aided in her recovery.
2 She developed an eating disorder
Courtesy: Everett Collection
On Good Morning America, McCormick admitted that she became bulimic after the show ended in 1974 due to the pressure to stay skinny and live up to the Marcia image.
“When I went back to public school, I was with some girlfriends, and they said, ‘Hey, you know what you can do? You can eat a lot of food and get rid of it.’ That’s how [I] got into it,” she said.
3 She kissed her ‘brother’ during the Hawaii episodes
Courtesy: Everett Collection
Using a cast of teens and preteens close in age can be tricky, especially when they find each other attractive. As a result, McCormick developed feelings for her “brother,” Barry Williams, who played Greg Brady on the show. Those feelings finally spilled over during the filming of the Hawaii episodes.
‘We couldn’t hold back any longer,’ she wrote in her book Here’s the Story.
“It was our first kiss, and it was long, passionate and deep. It was wonderful, too, though as we continued to kiss and press against each other so closely that we could feel each other’s body heat, a part of me — a tiny part, admittedly — said to myself, “Oh my God! I’m kissing my brother. What am I doing?”‘
4 The infamous ‘nose’ episode was a result of a car accident
Everett Collection
After a car accident left McCormick with a visible injury, Brady Bunch writer Sherwood Schwartz wrote it into the 1973 episode “The Subject Was Noses,” in which Peter (Christopher Knight) accidentally hits Marcia in the face with a football. The scene had to be performed for real, so Marcia took a football to the face, on top of her existing injury.
“Although it is one of the most famous Brady Bunch episodes, it’s not one of my favorites because of the memories I have of making it. Practically everyone on the set, from the prop man to Lloyd Schwartz, threw a Nerf football at my face, trying to get the perfect spot,” wrote McCormick.
5 She traded her body for drugs
In her book, McCormick wrote that her addiction to drugs led her down some dark paths, including trading her body for drugs. She recalled spending time with unsavory types, including a drug dealer named Bill. While hooked on cocaine, she said her “friendships shifted and suffered” because her world revolved around getting high. She ended up crashing at her dealer’s house on the infamous Wonderland Ave. off Laurel Canyon Blvd. in Los Angeles with a group of people, where drugs and bad decisions were plentiful.
In her autobiography, she wrote: “We were high all the time there. We were one another’s friends, lovers, and torturers. I slept with Bill, too. I only did it a few times — and always for the same reason: I wanted coke.”
During an interview with The Howard Stern Show, she also discussed a portion of the book in which she allowed herself to be videotaped during a sexual act in exchange for drugs, but luckily for McCormick, the tape hasn’t surfaced. Yet.
6 Her addiction led her to miss out on acting opportunities
In her book, McCormick detailed a disastrous audition with Steven Spielberg, explaining that she was so strung out on drugs at the time that she could barely function. She recalled being so “messed up” during their meeting that instead of discussing a role in Raiders of the Lost Ark, Spielberg simply handed her an orange.
“I managed to get there, but I was pretty messed up when I sat down across from Steven. It’s amazing how I deluded myself into thinking I was prepared. I’d been up for several days. I probably look drawn and tired, but thought makeup covered it. What no amount of makeup could conceal, though, was my inability to function like an actress,” wrote McCormick in Here’s the Story.
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