‘The Brady Bunch’: Marcia and Cindy Weren’t Nearly As Innocent In Real Life: ‘We Were Doing Something So Illegal’

The Brady Bunch graced our television screens from 1969 to 1974. And even today, fans can still watch reruns of the show on streaming services such as Hulu.

Though the Brady children were innocent enough on camera, it turns out that in real life, Susan Olsen (Cindy) and Maureen McCormick (Marcia) weren’t as innocent as they seemed.

‘The Brady Bunch’ cast generally got along, though there was some tension

Bringing so many adolescent kids onto set had its pros and cons. The actors generally got along, and there were reportedly a number of romances and hook ups happening off screen. According to SheKnows, Susan Olsen once revealed that the young actors often became romantic with each other on set. “… If there was anybody to get a crush on or try to date, it would be our counterparts,” Olsen said. Even Cindy and Bobby were reportedly kissing each other as young as age nine.

There were also reports that McCormick and Eve Plumb (Jan) didn’t get along well on set.  Olsen called the girls’ relationship “petty,” though she didn’t expand on why the two never got along in the first place. Even today, the women don’t seem to have the best relationship, though Olsen has tried to keep them close.

Maureen McCormick allegedly used to shoplift for fun

On camera, the Brady family was full of kids and teens who, though occasionally causing trouble, were generally harmless. But in real life, it turns out some of the kids had a rebel side. Olsen revealed that Marcia reportedly used to shoplift for fun when she was younger.

In her interview with SheKnows, Olsen revealed that Marcia allegedly shoplifted in her younger years — quite the rebel move. Marcia reportedly was caught shoplifting with a friend at one point, though, according to Olsen, Marcia’s friend took the blame while Marcia hid in the car. It doesn’t sound like Marcia was too reliable when it came to owning up to her mistakes — at least not as a teenager.

Susan Olsen illegally grew marijuana with her ex-husband

Olsen wasn’t as innocent as she seemed on the The Brady Bunch, either. Though Cindy’s pigtails made her appear as though she could do no wrong, when Olsen got older, she married twice. After her first divorce, she met Mitch Markwell and married him in 1995.

Olsen and Markwell decided to start illegally growing marijuana together, though Olsen claims she never liked to smoke marijuana and wasn’t a fan of the idea.

“I have never really enjoyed smoking it, it makes me very paranoid. But it was my husband’s idea,” she told news.com.au.

Olsen said she was “fascinated” with growing marijuana, though she eventually became too concerned about how they were breaking the law. “… 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.” Olsen never got in trouble for growing the plant, but she could have been facing serious jail time if she’d been caught and convicted.