Former child star Maureen McCormick, who is best known for playing teenager Marcia Brady on the long-running TV family sitcom The Brady Bunch, is the author of the 2008 New York Times bestselling autobiography, Here’s the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, in which she wrote about her struggles with drug addiction and depression and her relationships with her co-stars including Robert Reed, who played her stepfather, architect Mike Brady.
Actually had this episode on TV, when I saw your post! 2 beautiful souls. pic.twitter.com/CRWUXfgYKv
— Olivia (@ryansmom915) June 20, 2024
Reed, who was diagnosed with HIV in 1991, died of colon cancer in 1992 at the age of 59. Throughout his career, Reed kept the fact that he was gay a secret.
During a 2000 interview with ABC News, Reed’s Brady Bunch co-stars – notably the late actress Florence Henderson (who played his TV wife Carol Brady) – revealed that the entire cast and crew were aware of Reed’s sexual orientation.
Henderson said of Reed being in the closet: “Here he was, the perfect father of this wonderful little family, a perfect husband. Off camera, he was an unhappy person – I think had Bob not been forced to live this double life, I think it would have dissipated a lot of that anger and frustration. I never asked him. I never challenged him. I had a lot of compassion for him because I knew how he was suffering with keeping this secret.”
She added: “I don’t think The Brady Bunch could have existed at that time with the public knowing that Robert Reed was gay. I just don’t think they would have bought it.”
This #PrideMonth and always I think of you Bob. Love and miss you pic.twitter.com/n96uohvoXc
— Maureen McCormick (@MoMcCormick7) June 20, 2024
This week, McCormick shared a photo of her with Reed singing on stage (above) and wrote: “This #PrideMonth and always I think of you Bob. Love and miss you.”
Note: Reed won three Emmy Award nominations for his more dramatic roles on the miniseries Rich Man, Poor Man (as rich man Teddy Boylan) and for his role as the villainous slave owner Dr. William Reynolds in the miniseries Roots.