Susan Olsen can’t resist telling all the Brady Bunch secrets. Just like the tattle-tale Cindy Brady who she portrayed on the popular TV show, Susan dished on the feuds, fortunes, and family love to News Australia .
For those who think that being a child actor or actress means lots of money and the ability to date their peers, Susan has sad news. Olsen describes the Brady Bunch stars’ life as sheltered, with minimal income.
“We led a sheltered life for part of the year,” said Susan. “We even had to pay for our own parking in the first season. They wouldn’t let us drive onto the lot. We earned very, very little.”
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But there was some fun, added Olsen. One of the not-so-well Brady Bunch secrets? Love among the co-stars.
“I had Mike Lookinland (Bobby Brady) and we used to make out in the doghouse when we were nine. Eve (who played Jan Brady) always had a crush on Chris (Peter Brady), they did kind of hook up later on. And of course there was Maureen (Marcia Brady) and Barry (Greg Brady), but Barry really wanted to hook up with Florence (Carol Brady), but Florence kept that very platonic.”
As for scandal, Olsen confessed that she did indeed, as rumored, become a drug dealer. Well, sort of, added the Brady Bunch star.
“I guess technically [I was a drug dealer], but I was really a [marijuana] grower, my husband at the time and I grew it hydroponically,” clarified Susan.
“I have never really enjoyed smoking it, it makes me very paranoid. But it was my husband’s idea. It was really fascinating and I’ve always been into ‘gardening’ and it’s such a complicated, wonderfully fascinating plant. But that was one of the reasons why I did leave my husband, because it just bothered me too much that we were doing something so illegal.”
So how does that compare to the other famous TV family, the Partridge Family? They’ve known tragedy in the death of Suzanne Crough Condray , who played Tracy Partridge, reported the Los Angeles Times .
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Her death at 52 was due to medical causes. During her reign on The Partridge Family , which ABC broadcast from September 1970 to March 1974, Suzanne co-starred with Shirley Jones as her mother and David Cassidy plus Danny Bonaduce as her brothers.
Others on Partridge Family included Susan Dey, shown below.
And despite Susan Olsen’s decision to tell her Brady Bunch secrets connected with drugs, Bonaduce may win the unofficial title of child-actor-gone-bad, reported the Tacoma Weekly .
Among the low-lights of his post- Partridge Family career: an arrest for robbing and assaulting a transvestite prostitute. Danny now has incorporated that story into his stand-up comedy and disc jockey routine.
But Bonaduce has company.
As the Inquisitr reported, Danny’s big brother on the Partridge Family David Cassidy went bankrupt just about the same time as Susan Olsen’s Brady Bunch big brother Barry Williams got slammed for abandoning his girlfriend and three-year-old daughter.
What do you think of the Partridge Family and Brady Bunch secrets now being revealed? Do child actors inevitably have some sort of problem when they’re growing up after the show ends? Post your comments below.
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