Maureen McCormick | Celebrity Mound

‘Brady Bunch’ Feud: Susan ‘Cindy’ Olsen Says Lesbian Rumors False

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Nov 232009

Back in the day “The Brady Bunch” family represented the American Dream, but it seems all that sibling affection has been severed by the fact that Eve Plum (Jan Brady) refuses to talk to or reconcile with big sis Marsha, played by Maureen McCormick.

“It’s such a drag because I loved her,” McCormick recently said. “I hope we can work it out, she was my best friend on the show. It’s been years since we spoke.”

But according to little sister, Susan Olsen (aka Cindy Brady), it’s going to take a lot for Plum to forgive and forget.

“I don’t like there to be a rift in the family. I love them both and this means whenever we get together for any project there will only be one or the other. But I do understand Eve’s point of view,” Olsen told us in an exclusive interview. “She got tired of Maureen gaining attention for herself by regurgitating the tiresome and false insinuations that they had a lesbian affair.”

McCormick “joked” in her memoir “Here’s the Story” that she and her on-screen sister had a girl-on-girl affair while working together, and Plumb was less-than-impressed. But it seems the girls did teach their little TV sibling quite a bit about the world during their years together on-set.

“Eve probably taught me more just because she was closer to my age and a novelty. I already had a real life sister Maureen’s age (they used to hang out together.) Eve was closer in age to me and I really looked up to her,” Olsen said. “Even then she was very involved in art and encouraged me to be a free thinker. She taught me about style and makeup and I saw her as a very sophisticated role model.”

And oddly enough, the child prodigy actually had problems with peer relations away from the Brady Brunch thanks to one little episode that caused her to get shunned…

“That was the drag about going back to public school each year which I insisted on. I wanted my normal life but I would get teased for things that Cindy did. I was shocked when actual friends of mine were reluctant to tell me a secret after the Tattletale episode had aired,” Olsen explained. “One of the most challenging aspects was having fame but not fortune, but everybody thinks you’re rich. It’s also bothersome that there is a belief that if you haven’t continued to be successful at acting, you are a failure. There are plenty of child actors who very willingly get out of show business. It’s ridiculous how people can assume that if you have taken on a normal life and normal job you must be miserable if you’re not in show business. Often it’s quite the opposite!”

So now that the pig-tails are gone, Olsen prefers to stay on the other side of the lens.

“In the end, I realized that I just didn’t like acting enough to put up with the stereotype and I didn’t really think I was good enough to transcend it. Although I used to do my best readings for characters that were very opposite Cindy, when it came down to it, they just couldn’t hire me to play a role that was too opposite like a murderer or drug addict,” Olsen said. “I would always prefer radio or working behind the scenes where I don’t have to be seen. I don’t like how appearance oriented TV is (especially now that I’m middle aged!!). But I am developing a show revolving around animal rescue which will hopefully entertain and maybe do a bit of good for the cause as well.”

So even though our little Cindy is all grown up these days, she still has that unrelenting sweetness and has been busy dedicating her time to auctioning off goodies (and a lunch date!) through Auction Cause and eBay for a cause very close to her heart.

“I am on the board of directors for Precious Paws. I got involved with the organization by volunteering my services as a foster mother. I started foster parenting “bottle babies” for Animal Control. This is a program for taking in unweaned kittens and puppies and bottle feeding them until they are big enough to be spayed or neutered and ready to be adopted,” Olsen added. “Georgyne Lalone who is the founder of Precious Paws used to work with Chris Knight (Peter Brady) I got in touch with her and offered my services as a foster Mom. We hit it off and I’ve become part of the organization.”

(source)

Maureen McCormick tells all about `Brady,’ drug addiction

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Oct 132008

Marcia, Marcia, Marcia.

Fans of “The Brady Bunch” know Maureen McCormick as Marcia Brady, the wholesome older sister on the classic sitcom about a blended family. But in her new memoir, “Here’s the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice,” the actress writes of her romance with TV sibling Barry Williams, who played Greg Brady, dates with Michael Jackson and Steve Martin, and her many addictions.

Things became hot and heavy while McCormick and Williams were filming episodes in Hawaii.

“We couldn’t hold back any longer,” she writes in the book published by William Morrow. “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?’”

Now 52, McCormick — who endured a battle with drug addiction and depression — also discusses her dates with Martin and Jackson. It was several years after “The Brady Bunch” ended that McCormick went out with Martin, who had asked for the actress’ phone number through friend Chevy Chase.

“I remember him being a very good kisser,” McCormick writes about Martin. “But I was insecure and either high or spaced out (most likely both), and I didn’t laugh at his jokes.

“Though Steve was too polite and confident of his talent to say anything, I’m sure my inability to carry on a normal conversation or respond intelligently put him off,” she writes. “We never spoke again after that date. I’ve always regretted my behavior because he impressed me as an extraordinary guy. I would’ve enjoyed a second date.”

McCormick’s time with Jackson was innocent. They met while she was starring on “Brady” and he was part of the Jackson 5.

“Once we went ice-skating and he held my hand as we glided around the rink,” the book recalls. “I wondered if he might try to kiss me, but he didn’t. After another outing, he did give me a kiss goodbye. But it was only a gentle peck on the cheek.”

There were more men in McCormick’s life, which spiraled downward into substance abuse and depression as she struggled to reconcile her Marcia Brady image of the girl next door with her private pain.

In the book, hitting stores Tuesday, she discusses cocaine binges and parties at the Playboy Mansion and the home of Sammy Davis Jr., an unwanted pregnancy and trading sex for drugs. McCormick was not available for comment on her book.

McCormick was 14 when “The Brady Bunch” debuted on ABC, running from 1969 to 1974. Despite her role as a sunny Miss Perfect, she grappled privately with anxiety and insecurity, the youngest of four children born to a mercurial father who abused and cheated on their mother.

“As a teenager, I had no idea that few people are everything they present to the outside world,” she writes. “Yet there I was, hiding the reality of my life behind the unreal perfection of Marcia Brady. … No one suspected the fear that gnawed at me even as I lent my voice to the chorus of Bradys singing, `It’s a Sunshine Day.’”

When the series had its final bow, she took up a hard-partying lifestyle in Hollywood, using drugs including cocaine and Quaaludes. She struggled to regain her earlier success, landing some TV and movie roles, but developed a reputation for unreliability due to her addiction, even botching an interview with Steven Spielberg for a role in “Raiders of the Lost Ark” because she was high.

After interventions, stints in rehab and experimental therapies, McCormick began getting sober in 1985 when she married actor Michael Cummings, with whom she has a daughter, Natalie. She continued to fight depression through therapy, medication and the help of “Brady” cast mates.

McCormick, who is also a singer, starred on the Country Music Television reality series “Gone Country” and “Outsider’s Inn.” She also confronted her weight issues several years ago as the winning contestant on the VH1 reality show “Celebrity Fit Club.”

As for her iconic role, “I’ll always be struck by how much a part of people’s lives Marcia is and always will be. But now I’m not bothered by the connection. It took most of my life, countless mistakes and decades of pain and suffering to reach this point of equanimity and acceptance,” she says.