TLDR: Maureen McCormick played Marcia Brady on The Brady Bunch from 1969 to 1974 and spent the years afterward battling cocaine addiction, bulimia, and clinical depression while the public assumed she was living a version of the suburban perfection she had projected on screen.
She has been sober for over 40 years, is married to Michael Cummings, and published a memoir in 2008 that detailed everything the network never showed.
As of 2026 she is still performing, most recently in an off-Broadway play in New York.
Maureen Denise McCormick was born on August 5, 1956, in Encino, California, the youngest child and only daughter of Irene and Richard McCormick, a local schoolteacher.
She grew up in the San Fernando Valley alongside three older brothers, one of whom, Dennis, was born with an intellectual disability. Her parents became lifelong champions for inclusion, mainstreaming Dennis through his school years and into adult life.
That early experience shaped McCormick’s later work as a global ambassador for the Special Olympics.
She broke into television at age six when she won the Baby Miss San Fernando Valley beauty pageant and attracted commercial talent agents. By 1964, she was appearing in Mattel commercials for Barbie and Chatty Cathy.
In a detail that says something about how small the world of 1960s Los Angeles child acting was, one of those early commercials cast her as “Girl #1” opposite a girl named Eve Plumb as “Girl #3.”
They would be sisters for five years before they ever met on a proper set.
The 464 Kids and the Role That Defined Everything
In 1968, Sherwood Schwartz interviewed 464 child actors to fill the six Brady children roles. McCormick was initially selected to play Jan, the middle daughter, while an older actress was positioned for Marcia.
When the creative team decided to adjust the family’s age brackets downward, the casting was reshuffled and McCormick moved to Marcia. Once Florence Henderson was finalized as Carol Brady, the blonde casting group was locked.
Marcia Brady became the breakout character of the series — the idealized archetype of popular, pristine, confident suburban teenage America. The irony was complete.
Off screen, McCormick was struggling with severe insecurities and negative body image that she worked hard to hide. During filming of the Hawaii episodes, she hid behind beach towels between takes because she was self-conscious about her stomach. By age 17, she had developed bulimia.
The on-screen romance between Marcia and Greg Brady was not entirely fictional.
McCormick and Barry Williams had a genuine teenage off-screen romance throughout production, an attraction so obvious on the monitors that producer Lloyd Schwartz had to pull Williams aside to remind him that the characters were brother and sister.
The dynamic was real, it was mutual, and it was complicated by five years of filming together.
What Happened After the Show Ended
When The Brady Bunch was cancelled in 1974, McCormick was 18 years old and the most recognizable teenage girl in America, which made it almost impossible to be anything else.
Hollywood casting directors could not see past Marcia Brady. The typecasting was severe and largely permanent in the short term.
Starting at 18, McCormick developed a severe addiction to cocaine and Quaaludes. She spent time in the drug dens on Wonderland Avenue in Los Angeles and at parties at the Playboy Mansion.
As her addiction escalated, her finances collapsed and her professional reputation disintegrated. She admitted in her memoir that she occasionally engaged in transactional sexual relationships with her dealer solely to obtain cocaine.
The career consequences were specific and devastating. In 1980, she was given a chance to audition for Steven Spielberg for a role in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
She arrived at the audition under the influence of cocaine, having not slept for three consecutive days. She was unable to perform.
She lost the role and her standing with one of Hollywood’s most powerful directors simultaneously.
The addiction was also rooted in a family history that she had spent her entire childhood hiding. Her maternal grandmother had died in a psychiatric hospital. Her grandfather committed suicide one week later.
Her mother Irene had been born with congenital syphilis transmitted from her own mother, a diagnosis that drove Irene into severe agoraphobia and compulsive hoarding.
McCormick had spent her childhood going to great lengths to conceal the state of the family home.
The Marriage That Saved Her Life
McCormick met actor Michael Cummings at a concert in the early 1980s. Crucially, Cummings had grown up entirely unaware of The Brady Bunch and had no idea who she was, which she found deeply refreshing.
They married on March 16, 1985. Their early marriage was complicated by her ongoing depression and paranoia, including an incident where she threatened to jump from a balcony in front of him. Cummings remained. He eventually delivered an ultimatum that catalyzed her commitment to rehabilitation.
McCormick was formally diagnosed with clinical depression in 1997 and prescribed Prozac. She described the treatment as a “wonderful awakening,” allowing her to feel comfortable in her own skin for the first time since her teenage years.
She celebrated over 40 years of continuous sobriety in 2024. She and Michael celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in September 2025, publicly attributing the marriage’s longevity to humor, accepting each other’s differences, and intentionally prioritizing family over Hollywood.
Their daughter Natalie Michelle Cummings was born on May 19, 1989. When CBS scheduled production for the dramatic revival series The Bradys in 1990, McCormick chose to stay home and raise her infant daughter rather than reprise the role. Marcia Brady was recast with actress Leah Ayres.
The Memoir and the Dancing
McCormick published her memoir Here’s the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice in January 2008. It debuted at number four on the New York Times bestseller list.
The book detailed her addiction, her family’s generational trauma, and the gap between the public image of Marcia Brady and the private reality of her life. Some sources incorrectly list the memoir’s publication year as 2016. The verified publication date is 2008.
In 2016 she appeared on Season 23 of Dancing with the Stars, partnered with Artem Chigvintsev. She progressed through seven weeks of competition before finishing in eighth place. Florence Henderson, her TV mother and close personal friend, appeared in the studio audience to support her.
Henderson recited the famous line — “Marcia! Marcia! Marcia!” — from the audience. McCormick later described the moment as deeply comforting. It was Henderson’s final public television appearance. She died of heart failure on Thanksgiving Day, 2016, three days later.
In 2019, McCormick joined the surviving Brady children for HGTV’s A Very Brady Renovation, working with the Property Brothers to demolish and rebuild the interior of the original Studio City house used for the show’s exterior shots, reconstructing the floating staircase, the orange formica kitchen, and the Brady living room inside the actual structure.
Where She Is in 2026
At 69 years old, McCormick is still performing. In November 2025, she starred off-Broadway in Michael Griffo’s play Pen Pals alongside Sharon Lawrence, a drama told entirely through decades of letters between two female friends. She described returning to the stage as her “first love” and said it made her “feel like a kid again.”
She lives in Westlake Village, California, with Michael Cummings and devotes significant time to charitable work with Best Buddies, advocating for inclusion of people with intellectual disabilities — the cause her parents modeled for her when she was still a child watching them fight for her brother Dennis.
For the full Brady Bunch cast story, including Robert Reed’s private life, Florence Henderson’s death, and where all nine cast members are now, those pages have everything.
What happened to Maureen McCormick after The Brady Bunch?
After The Brady Bunch ended in 1974, Maureen McCormick battled severe cocaine and Quaalude addiction, bulimia, and clinical depression. She lost a career-defining audition with Steven Spielberg for Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1980 after arriving under the influence of cocaine having not slept for three days. She eventually achieved sobriety with the support of her husband Michael Cummings, was diagnosed with clinical depression in 1997, and published a bestselling memoir in 2008 detailing her struggles.
Is Maureen McCormick still alive?
Yes. Maureen McCormick is alive and active at age 69 as of 2026. She lives in Westlake Village, California, with her husband Michael Cummings. She recently returned to the stage, starring off-Broadway in the play Pen Pals in November 2025. She has been sober for over 40 years and continues to advocate for people with intellectual disabilities through Best Buddies.
Did Maureen McCormick and Barry Williams date?
Yes. Maureen McCormick and Barry Williams had a genuine off-screen teenage romance during the five years they filmed The Brady Bunch together. The attraction was mutual and so obvious on set monitors that producer Lloyd Schwartz had to pull Williams aside to remind him that their characters were brother and sister. Both actors have acknowledged the relationship publicly in memoirs and interviews. In January 2026, Williams compared the intense emotional bonds formed by the young cast to modern reality television dating shows like Love Island.
What is Maureen McCormick’s memoir about?
Maureen McCormick’s memoir, Here’s the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, was published in January 2008 and debuted at number four on the New York Times bestseller list. The book details her cocaine and Quaalude addiction that began at age 18, her bulimia, her family’s history of mental illness and generational trauma, her failed audition with Steven Spielberg for Raiders of the Lost Ark, and her eventual recovery through marriage and psychiatric treatment.
Who did Maureen McCormick marry?
Maureen McCormick married actor Michael Cummings on March 16, 1985. Cummings grew up unaware of The Brady Bunch and did not know who she was when they met, which she found deeply refreshing. He played a critical role in her recovery from addiction, eventually delivering an ultimatum that catalyzed her commitment to rehabilitation. They celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary in September 2025 and have one daughter, Natalie Michelle Cummings, born May 19, 1989.
