Maureen McCormick was the eldest daughter on the hit TV show, the Brady Bunch (aired 1969 – 1974). Most of us know her as Marcia Brady, or as the famous line goes, “Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!” Maureen, a pretty blond, comes from the generation of “teen idols” and all the girls her age wanted to be her and the boys wanted to be her boyfriend.
But all was not as it would seem on the hit show. Maureen’s home life was hard, at best. Her mother hid many insecurities that later would transfer to Maureen, her father once the man who took classes on how to be a better father to Maureen’s mentally handicapped brother, later puts him in a home. Her brother Kevin, is a mess of emotional highs and lows, involved in drugs and alcohol abuse….
Maureen McCormick reveals in this tell all that was also not the sweet girl she portrayed on TV, all innocent and naive, instead Maureen dabbled with cocaine addiction, troubled relationships, depression and more.
Here is the story.
Why did I want to read this book? While Maureen McCormick’s role as Marcia Brady was a little before my time, (I was more the Little House On The Prairie tv era) I knew enough about her through Brady Bunch reruns and later movies to know who she was. I had watched the Celebrity Fit Club that aired a while back where she admitted battling with depression and subsequently weight gain and was interested in her story then. And really… who wouldn’t want the inside scoop on the Brady who had a little fling with her on tv brother, Greg? 😛
Here’s The Story was a memoir I wanted to read, but in reality I was not prepared for. I had no idea the level of pain and issues that Maureen faced at a young age. I think often we watch people on TV and we forget that they are real people outside of their performance and they have real lives and real battles just like the rest of us. While many people envied the on tv persona of Marcia Brady, no one would have envied the child hood of Maureen McCormick.
I have to admit, at times, this audiobook made me angry. Maureen’s decisions at time are so bad that I wanted to shake her. I also took a little issue with her referring to her handicapped brother as ‘retarded’ which seems like such a cruel word. I know that is not a fair assessment, and I apologize for that. I have not walked in her shoes and on the flip of that, kudos, really, for her willingness to share such personal truths.
Overall, I did enjoy learning about Maureen’s life behind the mask of Marcia. She admits it took a long time to shake off Marcia, she was like the alter ego, always mocking Maureen into believing she was not good enough. I thought that she would talk more about her time on Celebrity Fit Club, which if you seen that season, Maureen was on with Dustin Diamond (the guy who played Screech in Saved By The Bell) and he was a real jerk. For me, it was a show I loved to hate because of his awfulness. Maureen however touches on this period of her life only briefly towards the end of her book.
The heart of this book is really the time Maureen spent on TV as a Brady, the years afterwards trying to find work as she met up with poor relationship after poor relationship, her battle with drugs, eventually becoming a Christian, and finding her way to happy and healthy.
An interesting listen, narrated by the author.
Book Journey 
I grew up on Marcia. I would love to read it. Sounds great and I am not usually a memoir reader.
I bet you would enjoy it them Margie – I did not watch a lot of episodes so I had to refer back often to who was who when she talks about the cast 🙂
I loved The Brady Bunch, even though in later years we laughed at the illusion of all that “perfection”…and obviously, it wasn’t perfect behind the scenes. But those are the moments I enjoy reading about. What the reality of their lives was like.
I think we tend to forget the “behind the scenes” when we watch people in movies or on tv… I know I do….:D
I was of the Brady Bunch age but we didn’t watch the show – my dad called it the “Bratty Bunch.”
LOL Kathy 😀
This sounds like a memoir I would have wanted to listen to…up until you told me how she uses the word “retarded” in referring to her handicapped brother. I’m sure that there are some people who believe that she CAN use this word because of her brother. From someone whose sister is handicapped, I say there is never an excuse to use this word, and it’s something I probably wouldn’t be able to get passed if I read/listened to her book.
I watched the Brady Bunch as a kid (re-runs probably) but watching it now as an adult makes me cringe!
It really bothered me Alison, she has such a sweet voice and the word sounded so ugly when she said it…. I said to a friend that is sounded also as bad as some words that are used to refer to other races – it seemed cruel and inappropriate.
It never ceases to amaze me how many actors have such awful personal lives.
I know! I think especially in the children the need to be so good in these roles takes a toll on them.
Eventually I want to read, or more likely listen to, this one. I’m of the Brady Bunch generation.
It’s sad that so many of the child stars that we idolized had horrible home lives and ended up with so many problems. We thought they had it made!
I think you will find this one interesting Leslie 😀
I’ve heard about this book, and I’m not sure if it is going to grab me enough. I might flick through at my local bookshop and see if I change my mind 🙂
That may be a good idea Ruth, I like listening to books when narrated by their authors 😀
I remember watching reruns of The Brady Bunch as a kid and I love memiors, I think i will look for this on audio so I can hear the author reading it herself. Now I have to hope my library gets it as I try not to buy audio books. Thanks for the review!
I like the author reading as well. 😀
I grew up watching the reruns of this one too and thought Marcia was so beautiful with her long blonde hair. so true that we forget that they are people first and foremost and so susceptible to bending under all of that pressure. I’ve been curious about this one and I might have to read Melissa Gilbert’s book at the same time as this one!
I want to read Melissa Gilberts book – AND the one that Nelly Olson (oh what is her REAL name???) wrote as well.