Marcia, Marcia, Marcia! The most popular Brady, Marcia, played by Maureen McCormick, was the eldest girl and arguably the most envied by her sister Jan thanks to her long blonde hair. (Getty)
Former child star Maureen McCormick is grateful her parents and her now-husband helped her overcome one of the darkest periods of her life.
“My mom and dad, they almost turned me in to the cops,” the actress, best known for playing Marcia Brady in the hit ‘70s show “The Brady Bunch,” recently told Us Weekly about her drug addiction. “They were at their last… cause they had been trying for years and knew something was going on and I was pretty sneaky and I could hide very, very well.
“But then I started messing up on jobs and so many things, so I’m sure everyone in the industry at the time knew that I was flaking out.”
McCormick insisted her future husband gave her an ultimatum.
“[I] met this guy [Michael Cummings] — it was before we were married and we were just dating — and I had my last relapse. He came to me and said, ‘If you ever do this drug again, I’m gone, I’m leaving.’ It woke me up. It was like the coldest shower you could ever take, there’s just no way I’m gonna lose somebody that I love.”
“… We’ve been married now for 33 years. I just had a feeling that I could trust him with my whole heart and that he was so honest and such a beautiful, beautiful human being.”
Looking back at her own journey, McCormick had some no-nonsense advice on battling addiction.
“I recommend to anyone who’s struggling to throw that phone book out and do not, do not hang out with anyone who’s using,” she warned. “I had to literally say goodbye to so many people that I was hanging out with.”
Back in 2008, McCormick released a tell-all which detailed how she got deeper into Hollywood’s drug scene.
According to The Telegraph, McCormick revealed she traded sex for drugs with a Hollywood cocaine dealer who later went to jail, and once allowed an older man she met at the Playboy Mansion to videotape her naked in exchange for drugs.
McCormick’s addiction was so powerful that she reportedly turned up to an audition for Steven Spielberg's “Raiders of the Lost Ark” completely “messed up” after being awake for several days on drugs.
“If there was coke, I had to stay up and do every last flake even if it meant going without sleep for days,” she wrote. “Nothing else mattered.”
McCormick would go on to get sober and is now at peace. In fact, she honored her late TV mom Florence Henderson by participating in the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Go Red for Women Red Dress Collection 2017.
The annual show was created to raise awareness on heart disease among women. According to AHA, cardiovascular diseases cause one in three deaths among women each year — more than all cancers combined.
Henderson passed away in late 2016 at age 82 from heart failure. Just three days before her death, she attended a taping of ABC’s “Dancing with the Stars” to cheer on McCormick, who was participating in the dance competition series.
“[Florence was] a person who wanted to spread love and laughter,” McCormick told Fox News. “She loved people, she loved life. She’s born on Valentine’s Day, how perfect, right? [She was] just a great woman. Someone I really admired.”
McCormick had a special message for her fans.
“Just be careful women,” said McCormick. “This is the number one killer of women. Heart disease. Ask questions, go talk to your doctor, get all the tests and check-ups that we’re supposed to do for cholesterol, and blood pressure and blood sugar. Exercise a good amount. And eat right. And take care of yourself. Life is short, you know.”
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