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Maureen McCormick Turns 60: A Look Back At The Life Of ‘The Brady Bunch’s’ Marcia, Marcia, Marcia

By Victoria Miller
Published on: 21:58 PST, Aug 4, 2016

Maureen McCormick is celebrating a milestone birthday. The Brady Bunch star, who was born on August 6, 1956, is 60 years old! Maureen received birthday greetings on social media from friends and fans, but it’s still hard to believe this eternal teenager is now 60 years old. McCormick also took to Twitter to thank fans for their messages.

In addition to her famous role as Marcia Brady on the ’70s ABC sitcom The Brady Bunch, Maureen McCormick has a long TV resume that includes everything from Barbie commercials to a 1965 guest role on Bewitched. (As a pint-sized Endora, no less!) More recently, McCormick appeared in the TV movie Christmas Land and the reality show I’m a Celebrity, Get me Out of Here.

But while Maureen McCormick she has lived most of her life in front of the camera, she hid secrets from fans for decades. McCormick finally told all in 2008 when she published her memoir, Here’s the Story:Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice.

In her book, Maureen detailed her real life romances with Steve Martin and Michael Jackson. McCormick said she dated the Jackson 5 singer when she was about 15 years old – the late King of Pop was a huge fan of The Brady Bunch – and that their G-rated dates included roller skating and holding hands. Maureen said she also spent a lot of time at the Jackson family’s home when she was a teen.

But Maureen really had a thing for her TV brother, Barry Williams – yes, the actress who played Marcia almost lost her virginity to Greg – and in an interview with Today, she also revealed she had a crush on her younger TV brother, played by Christopher Knight.

“Barry [Greg Brady] and I were extremely attracted to each other,” McCormick told Today.

“It was even hard to be in a scene together. I was just dreaming of this romance. I had such an amazing attraction for him. It was awkward to be in scenes playing brother and sister. People started seeing it. Fortunately, it was on-again, off-again. We look at it now and we laugh. Barry is now one of my dearest friends. I was also attracted to Chris Knight [Peter Brady], but nothing ever happened.”

But it wasn’t all sunshine days for the child star. After the Brady Bunch wrapped in 1974, McCormick battled bulimia and cocaine addiction, which ultimately cost her her career when she was in her 20s. Maureen later tackled a weight problem when she joined VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club a decade ago. McCormick dropped 38 pounds on the celebrity weight loss competition and was crowned the winner of the competition.

Maureen told Today the reality show allowed her to break away from her picture perfect Marcia Brady image. The actress described the Fit Club experience as “cathartic” and said it made her realize she could finally share her mistakes after decades of hiding behind her Marcia Brady persona.

“Playing Marcia was a double-edged sword… So much good came from being on the show, so much fun that I had. At the same time, it was weird because I felt like I had to show to the public that I was Marcia — perfect, with no problems. I didn’t think I could be my imperfect self. I pretended I was Marcia, so I was always playing this role.”

Maureen revealed that she also battled depression, but her path of destruction came to a head in the early 1980s when she starred in one of the many Brady Bunch spin-offs. Maureen realized she had a drug problem after her agent had to hunt her down to get her to the studio after a three-day bender.

“I hit rock bottom when I was doing The Brady Brides,” Maureen said.

“[My agent] said, ‘You have to get to Paramount right now, and you have a problem.’ I couldn’t hide anymore. Everyone knew — the producers knew, everyone at Paramount knew, the guys [screen testing] to play my husband knew. It was the first time I had to face that I really had a problem.”

Maureen McCormick eventually sought treatment. In her book, she credits her husband, Michael Cummings, with saving her life. McCormick married Cummings in 1985 and they have one daughter, Natalie. Maureen also landed the role as Barbara Mandrell in a TV biopic about the country star, and she showed off her own singing chops on CMT’s Gone Country.

Nearly 50 years after she first landed the role that would define her career, Maureen McCormick has come full circle.

Earlier this year, Maureen reunited with her TV mom, Florence Henderson, at the Television Academy’s 70th Anniversary Gala in Los Angeles. Maureen told People she was proud to be part of a show that has lived on in syndication for more than 45 years.

“It was an honor to be on something like that – that just lives on and on,” McCormick said. “New people are still discovering it… it’s kind of mind-boggling.”

Maureen McCormick also said she would “absolutely” appear on a Brady reboot if the circumstances were right.

Take a look at the video below to see a young Maureen McCormick starring in a Barbie commercial.

[Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]

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