Running from 1969 to 1974, The Brady Bunch was a show all about what happens when you blend two different families. When Mike and Carol's families came together, absolute chaos ensued — but it was always chaos of the wholesome variety, which may have been what truly cemented the sitcom in television history.
But behind the scenes, things between the cast members were most certainly less than wholesome. Read on for five of the biggest scandals that were kept secret while The Brady Bunch was still in production. Be warned: Some of these stories are truly shocking!
Barry Williams and Maureen McCormick dated.
While Barry and Maureen may have played brother and sister Greg and Marcia on the show, off screen, things between them were a lot flirtier. In her memoir, Here’s the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My Voice, Maureen wrote that their relationship was mostly "an on-and-off-again game" that started when they kissed for the first time when the show was filming in Hawaii.
They weren't the only cast members who paired off.
In 2015, Susan Olsen, who played Cindy, told News.com.au that all of the kids eventually paired off with their corresponding on-screen sibling of the opposite sex.
"So, I had Mike and we used to make out in the doghouse when we were 9. Eve always had a crush on Chris, they did kind of hook up later on. And, of course, there was Maureen and Barry," she said.
There was a lot of drama involving Robert Reed.
As Biography reported, during The Brady Bunch's time on air, Robert Reed, who played dad Mike Brady, would often fight with showrunner Sherwood Schwartz when it came to the show's scripts. Apparently, Robert wasn't a big fan of the sillier plot lines, and their feud became so bad by the end that he was written out of the series finale.
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Barry Williams took Florence Henderson out on a date.
If you thought on-screen brothers and sisters hooking up was weird, can we talk about the fact that a teenage Barry Williams once asked his TV mom, Florence Henderson, out on a date — and she said yes?!
But according to what Florence wrote on her website, their dinner date wasn't exactly what it seemed. "I guess in a sense it was a date, because Barry thought it was. But of course, I had no idea that his intentions were to ‘date’ me. It has made for a good story though!" she wrote.
Barry Williams was high while filming an episode of the show.
As Barry once told fans at a convention, while filming the episode "Law and Disorder," which aired in 1973, Barry was actually high. He'd been smoking marijuana with friends on his day off when he got called into work at the last minute, so what choice did he have?!
