Here's the (real) story of 'Brady Bunch' TV star Maureen McCormick - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

catlover79 · 06-11-2010, 11:10 PM

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/health/...tv-585465.html

By Leslie Gray Streeter
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Updated: 6:48 p.m. Monday, April 19, 2010
Posted: 3:21 p.m. Monday, April 19, 2010

Maureen McCormick knows that when some people see her listed as the speaker at a drug abuse center's luncheon, they'll assume that her story is the standard "child star gone wrong" saga.

They think they'll hear how the girl who became Marcia, Marcia, Marcia Brady on TV's The Brady Bunch was dazzled by fame and pressure that came too soon and led down a path she'd never have followed if she'd become, say, a schoolteacher or a dentist.

And McCormick's answer to that is: No, I probably would have been an addict anyway.

"It would have happened just the same," insists McCormick, 53, who appears at the Drug Abuse Treatment Center's "Changing Lives" luncheon on Thursday. "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."

As recounted in her 2008 biography Here's The Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, the perfect-looking California girl started acting at the age of 7, voicing the Chatty Cathy doll and appearing in a Barbie commercial.

Soon she'd be famous not because of a doll, but for being the living embodiment of the pretty, popular teen on The Brady Bunch from 1969-1974. As Marcia, the oldest daughter in a photogenic blended family of three boys, three girls, two parents, a maid and a dog, McCormick navigated on-screen adventures like Marcia's nose getting broken by a flying football ("Oh, my nose!"), getting heartthrob Davy Jones to come to a school dance, and always being just a little more perfect than younger sister and quintessential middle child Jan.

But after the run of the series, McCormick's life was nothing like Marcia's storybook existence. In fact, it was a nightmare. The actress, who has said that she developed an "all-encompassing" addiction to cocaine at the age of 20, began on a downward spiral that threatened to wreck her career. For instance, she writes that she actually traded sex for cocaine, and that she blew an audition for Raiders of the Lost Ark with Steven Spielberg because she was so strung out.

She wrote that she hit bottom during the shooting of The Brady Brides, a 1981 TV series with Eve "Jan Brady" Plumb, where she went missing for three days doing coke and playing solitaire in her closet.

That experience turned out to be the start of her recovery. After an unsuccessful run in therapy, McCormick wrote that she started attending church with actor Jerry Houser, who played her husband on The Brady Brides. There she met her husband, actor Michael Cummings, developed a relationship with God and began working on getting clean. She and Cummings have one daughter, Natalie.

She believes that she survived so that she could share her story with people who need to hear it.

"I think that's what we're here for when we go through difficulties in life. So many of us have so much in common and some of us are predisposed to having addictive personalities," she says. "If you learn that lesson, you can share it. Your goal in life should be to share and grow from what you learned."

McCormick says she figures that story might mean more coming from someone whom listeners feel like they grew up with, but she admits that there was a time that she couldn't have imagined being so open.

"I grew up in a family where things like that were very shameful and not talked about," she says. "We weren't supposed to share our trials and tribulations like that. But I feel now like it's a cathartic thing to show your weaknesses and share how you survived and go through things. I see now that it's a good thing to do, but at one point I never would have imagined."

McCormick says that people who have read her book or heard her speak seem to appreciate her ability to be candid, even if it didn't come naturally to her — "People come up to me and thank me for sharing my story," she says. "We're here to help each other."

And that's one of the reasons that McCormick says she wouldn't change anything about her past, including still being thought of largely for a character she began playing more than 40 years ago.

"It was a great show to be a part of, that made so many people so happy. There's not much in this world that helps you escape, that is free and healthy," she says of The Brady Bunch.

While she admits that she doesn't watch the reruns when she comes across them — "I've never been a fan of really sitting in front of the TV and watching myself. If I've seen it once, I've seen it and I want to move on"— her memories of having grown up Brady are always precious to her.

Her favorite moments, she remembers, were when the fictional family got to travel, "because we didn't go on many family vacations. That was so much fun. But it's the people that were the highlight for me. We've had an amazing bond between each other, like a real family," she says. "I couldn't have fallen into a better group of people. It was interesting — I had three brothers and never had sisters, but it was really wonderful to have two sisters on TV."

Growing up on TV as Marcia Brady may have been tough at times, but McCormick says it didn't prepare her for losing weight on air as herself, as a cast member on the fifth season of VH1's Celebrity Fit Club, where the famous and the infamous shed weight with boot camp-style workouts and lots of cameras.

She says doing the show was her daughter Natalie's "brilliant idea. I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to do that publicly. I was going through a really hard family time, which was the reason I had gained so much weight because I was eating to numb out the pain."

The decision turned out to be a good one — McCormick wound up winning that season against competitors like fellow former child stars Dustin Diamond (Saved by the Bell) and pop star Tiffany by losing 22.7 percent of her body weight, a total of 34 pounds on the show. She now includes that story, along with a picture of her looking healthy and trim, on her Web site.

"It's sometimes really wise to listen to your children, because they see things through totally different eyes," she now says. "It's one of the greatest things I've ever done."

Marvo301 · 06-11-2010, 11:59 PM

I really admire Mo for helping other people by sharing her story, her personal experiences, and what she's learned along the way. God bless her!

catlover79 · 06-12-2010, 12:56 AM

AMEN!!!

old grouch · 06-12-2010, 11:17 PM

I like it when people are able to turn their lives around. It's too bad that when her book came out, all we heard were the sleazy stories.

catlover79 · 06-12-2010, 11:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by old grouch

I like it when people are able to turn their lives around. It's too bad that when her book came out, all we heard were the sleazy stories.

Yeah, we didn't hear much about how Mo made her peace with her mother, or how her special friendship with TV husband Jerry Houser became the first step in turning her life around. Too bad the mainstream media just goes for the salicious, sleazy details.

Marvo301 · 06-13-2010, 12:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by catlover79

Yeah, we didn't hear much about how Mo made her peace with her mother, or how her special friendship with TV husband Jerry Houser became the first step in turning her life around. Too bad the mainstream media just goes for the salicious, sleazy details.

The sad truth is sleaze sells. But I think if the media ever tried to market the other side of the story they might find that it also sells. Don't hold your breath though!

catlover79 · 06-13-2010, 11:42 PM

Sad but true!!!!

Classicshowsgurl15 · 06-30-2010, 08:44 PM

I'm glad that she was able to turn her life around and that she shares her story. Does she talk about all this stuff in her book too?

catlover79 · 06-30-2010, 08:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Classicshowsgurl15

I'm glad that she was able to turn her life around and that she shares her story. Does she talk about all this stuff in her book too?

She goes into almost all of what we mentioned above, except for the feud between Maureen and Eve.

TMC · 03-24-2017, 02:16 AM

Not to engage in "cheap gossip", but has anybody gotten the feeling (if it isn't a rumor in itself) that Maureen is bipolar and often has manic episodes? In effect, you could (if you keep a close and good eye) tell that she's one of these people who when she's up, she's very gushy, touchy-feely, just too strong a personality. And when down, very quiet, withdrawn, inattentive.

06-11-2010, 11:10 PM	#1
catlover79 God Bless Val Forum Addict Join Date: May 29, 2006 Location: Bewitched in Ohio Posts: 70,376	Here's the (real) story of 'Brady Bunch' TV star Maureen McCormick http://www.palmbeachpost.com/health/...tv-585465.html By Leslie Gray Streeter Palm Beach Post Staff Writer Updated: 6:48 p.m. Monday, April 19, 2010 Posted: 3:21 p.m. Monday, April 19, 2010 Maureen McCormick knows that when some people see her listed as the speaker at a drug abuse center's luncheon, they'll assume that her story is the standard "child star gone wrong" saga. They think they'll hear how the girl who became Marcia, Marcia, Marcia Brady on TV's The Brady Bunch was dazzled by fame and pressure that came too soon and led down a path she'd never have followed if she'd become, say, a schoolteacher or a dentist. And McCormick's answer to that is: No, I probably would have been an addict anyway. "It would have happened just the same," insists McCormick, 53, who appears at the Drug Abuse Treatment Center's "Changing Lives" luncheon on Thursday. "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." As recounted in her 2008 biography Here's The Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, the perfect-looking California girl started acting at the age of 7, voicing the Chatty Cathy doll and appearing in a Barbie commercial. Soon she'd be famous not because of a doll, but for being the living embodiment of the pretty, popular teen on The Brady Bunch from 1969-1974. As Marcia, the oldest daughter in a photogenic blended family of three boys, three girls, two parents, a maid and a dog, McCormick navigated on-screen adventures like Marcia's nose getting broken by a flying football ("Oh, my nose!"), getting heartthrob Davy Jones to come to a school dance, and always being just a little more perfect than younger sister and quintessential middle child Jan. But after the run of the series, McCormick's life was nothing like Marcia's storybook existence. In fact, it was a nightmare. The actress, who has said that she developed an "all-encompassing" addiction to cocaine at the age of 20, began on a downward spiral that threatened to wreck her career. For instance, she writes that she actually traded sex for cocaine, and that she blew an audition for Raiders of the Lost Ark with Steven Spielberg because she was so strung out. She wrote that she hit bottom during the shooting of The Brady Brides, a 1981 TV series with Eve "Jan Brady" Plumb, where she went missing for three days doing coke and playing solitaire in her closet. That experience turned out to be the start of her recovery. After an unsuccessful run in therapy, McCormick wrote that she started attending church with actor Jerry Houser, who played her husband on The Brady Brides. There she met her husband, actor Michael Cummings, developed a relationship with God and began working on getting clean. She and Cummings have one daughter, Natalie. She believes that she survived so that she could share her story with people who need to hear it. "I think that's what we're here for when we go through difficulties in life. So many of us have so much in common and some of us are predisposed to having addictive personalities," she says. "If you learn that lesson, you can share it. Your goal in life should be to share and grow from what you learned." McCormick says she figures that story might mean more coming from someone whom listeners feel like they grew up with, but she admits that there was a time that she couldn't have imagined being so open. "I grew up in a family where things like that were very shameful and not talked about," she says. "We weren't supposed to share our trials and tribulations like that. But I feel now like it's a cathartic thing to show your weaknesses and share how you survived and go through things. I see now that it's a good thing to do, but at one point I never would have imagined." McCormick says that people who have read her book or heard her speak seem to appreciate her ability to be candid, even if it didn't come naturally to her — "People come up to me and thank me for sharing my story," she says. "We're here to help each other." And that's one of the reasons that McCormick says she wouldn't change anything about her past, including still being thought of largely for a character she began playing more than 40 years ago. "It was a great show to be a part of, that made so many people so happy. There's not much in this world that helps you escape, that is free and healthy," she says of The Brady Bunch. While she admits that she doesn't watch the reruns when she comes across them — "I've never been a fan of really sitting in front of the TV and watching myself. If I've seen it once, I've seen it and I want to move on"— her memories of having grown up Brady are always precious to her. Her favorite moments, she remembers, were when the fictional family got to travel, "because we didn't go on many family vacations. That was so much fun. But it's the people that were the highlight for me. We've had an amazing bond between each other, like a real family," she says. "I couldn't have fallen into a better group of people. It was interesting — I had three brothers and never had sisters, but it was really wonderful to have two sisters on TV." Growing up on TV as Marcia Brady may have been tough at times, but McCormick says it didn't prepare her for losing weight on air as herself, as a cast member on the fifth season of VH1's Celebrity Fit Club, where the famous and the infamous shed weight with boot camp-style workouts and lots of cameras. She says doing the show was her daughter Natalie's "brilliant idea. I didn't want to do it. I didn't want to do that publicly. I was going through a really hard family time, which was the reason I had gained so much weight because I was eating to numb out the pain." The decision turned out to be a good one — McCormick wound up winning that season against competitors like fellow former child stars Dustin Diamond (Saved by the Bell) and pop star Tiffany by losing 22.7 percent of her body weight, a total of 34 pounds on the show. She now includes that story, along with a picture of her looking healthy and trim, on her Web site. "It's sometimes really wise to listen to your children, because they see things through totally different eyes," she now says. "It's one of the greatest things I've ever done."
	__________________ "Jesus loves you and He approves this message." "I'm alive. I'm feeling good. I'm trying to live every moment as much as I can." - Valerie Harper, March 2013

06-11-2010, 11:59 PM	#2
Marvo301 I'm NOT a Blockhead! Forum Celebrity Join Date: May 17, 2002 Location: The Great White North Posts: 21,452	I really admire Mo for helping other people by sharing her story, her personal experiences, and what she's learned along the way. God bless her!
	__________________ Only a life lived for others is worth living. Albert Einstein A life isn't worth living unless it has impact on other lives. Jackie Robinson Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. Benjamin Franklin

06-30-2010, 08:44 PM	#8
Classicshowsgurl15 Happy Days Senior Member Join Date: Jun 28, 2004 Location: California Posts: 2,088	I'm glad that she was able to turn her life around and that she shares her story. Does she talk about all this stuff in her book too?
	__________________ “All our young lives we search for someone to love, someone who makes us complete. We choose partners and change partners. We dance to a song of heartbreak and hope, all the while wondering if somewhere, somehow, there's someone perfect who might be searching for us.” - The Wonder Years

06-12-2010, 12:56 AM	#3
catlover79 God Bless Val Forum Addict Join Date: May 29, 2006 Location: Bewitched in Ohio Posts: 70,376	AMEN!!!

06-12-2010, 11:17 PM	#4
old grouch Member Senior Member Join Date: May 13, 2010 Location: montana Posts: 1,877	I like it when people are able to turn their lives around. It's too bad that when her book came out, all we heard were the sleazy stories.

06-13-2010, 11:42 PM	#7
catlover79 God Bless Val Forum Addict Join Date: May 29, 2006 Location: Bewitched in Ohio Posts: 70,376	Sad but true!!!!

03-24-2017, 02:16 AM	#10
TMC Member Forum Idol Join Date: Jan 09, 2001 Posts: 124,897	Not to engage in "cheap gossip", but has anybody gotten the feeling (if it isn't a rumor in itself) that Maureen is bipolar and often has manic episodes? In effect, you could (if you keep a close and good eye) tell that she's one of these people who when she's up, she's very gushy, touchy-feely, just too strong a personality. And when down, very quiet, withdrawn, inattentive.