The American sitcom The Brady Bunch ran from 1969 to 1974, and due to its popularity, spinoffs and TV films came even after the show’s cancellation. Due to the show’s status as an American cultural icon, Maureen McCormick’s net worth grew as she played Marcia Brady in it and some of the sitcom’s subsequent spinoffs and films. But due to her mental illnesses, drug addiction, and eating disorder, her career almost ended at one point.
While Maureen McCormick’s life and career are as colorful as most celebrities’ life, it certainly had some dark moments that she wasn’t ashamed to talk about when she was able to turn her life around. This article will give you details about her life, career, rise and fall from stardom, and her eventual rise again, which you should read with caution and an open mind. While some parts may be tough to read and can be triggering for some, it has a turn of events for the actor’s life that we hope you would find inspiring.
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Table of Contents
Maureen McCormick’s Story: From Beauty Pageant Winner To TV Star
Early Life
Maureen Denise McCormick, the youngest and only daughter of Richard and Irene McCormick, was born on August 5, 1956, in Woodland Hills, California. Her mother was a stay-at-home parent, while her father was a schoolteacher. She grew up with her older brothers Dennis, Michael, and Kevin but spent more time playing with the neighbor kids she performed puppet shows with.
It seems Maureen McCormick has always had it in her to become a performer as she grew up singing and dancing when she isn’t playing with her friends. When she was six years old, she won the Baby Miss San Fernando Valley pageant, which led to a talent agent calling her to pursue a career in show business. This call changed her life and made her pursue a career in the entertainment industry.
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Career
In 1964, Maureen McCormick got her first role in a television ad for Mattel’s newest doll, “Baby Pattaburp.” In the same year, she appeared in another commercial for the company’s “Chatty Cathy” doll and was also cast in the La Jolla Playhouse production of Wind It Up And It Breaks. During the 1969 screening for a new TV sitcom, she got her breakout role of Marcia Brady in The Brady Bunch, a show that would run for five years.
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Maureen McCormick toured the country with the cast of The Brady Bunch and started her career as a recording artist. She eventually made her solo singles in 1972 entitled Truckin’ Back to You and Teeny Weeny Bit (Too Long). The next year, McCormick recorded an EP named Chris Knight and Maureen McCormick with her Brady Bunch co-star Christopher Knight, which had duets and solo tracks.
Since the cancellation of The Brady Bunch in 1974, she appeared in several films but none of them got close to the level of Marcia Brady. She has also made appearances in many TV shows and released her country music album, When You Get a Little Lonely, on April 4, 1995, but it wasn’t well-received by music critics. While her career didn’t continue its upward climb that The Brady Bunch started, Maureen McCormick’s net worth is still at $4 million.
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Personal Life
During the run of the original The Brady Bunch, Barry Williams and Maureen McCormick had an on-and-off romance. When the show ended, she struggled for years with drug use and body image issues, and an eating disorder, to the point that she became self-destructive. Because of these issues, she was mostly in cocaine dens and looking for narcotics and other substances. In many of her more recent interviews, McCormick confessed that she became addicted to cocaine, so much so that she even traded sex for drugs. She admitted that it nearly wrecked her life and she wouldn’t be alive had it not been for her husband.
On March 16, 1985, Maureen McCormick married actor Michael Cummings who she had been dating for a few years. The pair welcomed their daughter, who they named Natalie Michelle, on May 19, 1989. While she was still struggling when she married her husband, she tried her hardest to confront her addiction and depression by going to rehab multiple times and undergoing numerous therapies. She eventually sobered up and continued her career and life with her family.
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On October 14, 2008, Maureen McCormick released her autobiography entitled Here’s the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, which became a part of The New York Times bestsellers. In the book, she detailed her struggles caused by her addiction and bulimia and how she overcame them. The book also includes Maureen McCormick’s daughter’s photos and other never-before-seen images of the actress when she started in the entertainment industry.
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Maureen McCormick’s True Voice
Maureen McCormick’s net worth has allowed her to turn her life around and come out of her darkest days as a stronger person. She may have lost many opportunities due to her struggles, but she was able to find her true voice and keep on living a life she can be proud of. On her Instagram account, anyone can see how she is living her best life now with her family while still doing some minor film and TV roles.
https://www.instagram.com/momccormick7/
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