‘Brady Bunch’ star Susan Olsen addresses solid affair rumor, dying hoax: ‘I do not just like the implication’

Susan Olsen needs to set the document straight about an alleged on-set hookup involving her squeaky-clean TV household.

The previous youngster star, who famously performed Cindy Brady in “The Brady Bunch,” has been confronted with quite a few wacky rumors in regards to the hit Seventies sitcom. Nonetheless, there may be one specifically, involving her TV mother Carol Brady and on-screen sibling Greg Brady that she has taken subject with through the years.

“I disliked the rumors that Florence Henderson and Barry Williams had an affair,” Olsen instructed Fox Information Digital about her co-stars.

“Barry had a crush on her,” the 61-year-old clarified. “She was very type to him. She let him take her out for her birthday. So I don’t just like the implication that’s been on the market, that one thing was occurring with them. There wasn’t something occurring with them apart from mutual respect and love.”

The beloved matriarch, who handed away in 2016 at age 82, beforehand spoke out in regards to the outing.

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“He had a crush on me, and he requested me out for a date, which I’ll always remember,” the actress instructed Folks journal in 1991. “He was too younger to drive, so his older brother introduced him to my lodge, after which I drove us to the Ambassador Lodge in Los Angeles, the place we noticed a singer. It was so candy as a result of Barry made positive we had desk.”

“After the present, his brother picked him up and took him residence,” Henderson shared on the time. “The crush was a really critical factor for him, so I used to be by no means condescending. I definitely preferred him too, however I wasn’t precisely the Cher of the TV mother set.”

Williams additionally spoke in regards to the story of a beautiful girl in his e book “Rising Up Brady.” In it, the actor insisted that the date was nothing greater than a memorable dinner.

“When these little issues referred to as hormones begin kicking in, you get excited by even inanimate objects,” he wrote, as quoted by the outlet. “It wasn’t that I sought to mattress her. I simply needed to spend time along with her. It was flattering that she gave me any consideration in any respect.”

One other rumor Olsen has been keen to place to mattress has been the one involving her dying.

“That’s just about a fabrication,” she chuckled earlier than turning critical. “There truly was a younger woman named Susan Olsen who obtained her coat caught within the door of a bus and was dragged a number of blocks and died. And a few information supply on the East Coast reported that it was me. And there have been at all times rumors that I used to be lifeless… It made me really feel like Paul McCartney as a result of it was on the identical time that there have been rumors that Paul McCartney was lifeless.” 

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“Rumors of my dying are gross exaggerations,” she added.

Olsen lately supported The Hollywood Museum for its tribute to Movement Image Moms. The exhibit is open to the general public till June 4. The nonprofit was fashioned in 1939 as a small social group of girls whose kids had been concerned in showbiz. “Depart It to Beaver” star Jerry Mathers’ mom, Marilyn Mathers, serves as president of the group.

Olsen’s mom had been a member of the Movement Image Moms lengthy earlier than she pursued an appearing profession. Her siblings had already made their mark in Hollywood.

Regardless of the present’s success, Olsen admitted she struggled to be within the obtrusive media highlight.

“Fame was the one half I didn’t like,” she defined. “I cherished the work. I cherished my castmates. I actually cherished the business. I actually preferred what I did. I used to be a child who needed a job. [But] fame to me was foolish. Simply actually, actually ridiculous. It was like idiot’s gold.”

“Shortly after the present premiered, I went to my uncle, a drama instructor in Palo Alto,” she stated. “He taught highschool, and he would have these actually extravagant productions. And we went up north to one in every of his productions. I obtained acknowledged within the viewers and I obtained mobbed. They needed to name the police to get me out. It was this large crowd of individuals. I’d seen a grownup who [said], ‘Oh look, her little face is purple. She will’t breathe – right here, signal another [autograph].’ It was very, very scary. I didn’t prefer it. I used to be able to stop the present.”

Olsen shared that she later discovered that followers mobbed her “out of affection” for her character – nevertheless it didn’t make it any simpler.

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“I educate appearing for youngsters,” Olsen defined. “I say, ‘What would you like?’ They usually go, ‘I wanna be well-known!’ and I’m like ‘No, no, no that’s not what you need. You need to do good work. And fame is the byproduct of excellent work.’”

On the floor, “The Brady Bunch” resembled simply one other innocuous TV sitcom a few household dwelling in suburban America and stepping into a distinct foolish scenario every week. Properly after it ended its preliminary run in 1974, the present resonated with audiences, and it returned to tv in varied types many times, together with “The Brady Bunch Hour” in 1977, “The Brady Brides” in 1981 and “The Bradys” in 1990. It was additionally seen endlessly in reruns.

Premiering in 1969, it additionally was among the many first exhibits to introduce the blended household to tv. As its theme tune reminded viewers every week, Henderson’s Carol was a single mom elevating three daughters when she met her TV husband, Robert Reed’s Mike Brady, a single father who was elevating three boys. The eight of them turned “The Brady Bunch,” with a unusual housekeeper, performed by Ann B. Davis, thrown into the combination.

Olsen stated her dad and mom, like her TV ones, had been decided to present their kids as regular of an upbringing as doable.

“All six of us [Brady kids], except [co-star] Eve [Plumb] who was already attending a personal college went again to common public college once we weren’t filming,” she defined. “All of us tried to keep up as regular as a lot as we may… It was essential to me. And I made my mom promise that if I obtained caught up and issues began going to my head that she’d take me out of the enterprise.”

“A variety of these unhappy tales you hear about [concerning child stars] are actually the product of oldsters who pushed their youngsters into the enterprise,” she continued. “I had a father who was always attempting to bribe me to get out of it. He’d say, ‘I’ll get you a horse – please simply go away this foolish enterprise behind.’ He needed me to simply go to high school and be an everyday child. My dad and mom weren’t pushing me in any respect. I needed to struggle for my proper to remain in, to be a part of the present. I keep in mind telling my dad, ‘I perceive you suppose my life is irregular now, however do you suppose it’s going to do me any good to see that there’s a present on Friday nights that I was in, and I’m not in it anymore? That’s going to be fairly terrible, too.'”

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Olsen stated that after “The Brady Bunch” ended, she was wanting to flex her appearing muscle. Even when cameras stopped rolling, Reed was a doting father determine who supplied his help.

“He wrote one in every of two suggestion letters to get me into the American Academy of Dramatic Arts,” she revealed. “He additionally supplied me up his home. He lived in Pasadena, the college is in Pasadena. And he stated, ‘Susan if you wish to reside with me, you’re welcome to remain right here.’… Robert was simply great. Only a sweetheart. He took a love and an curiosity in us as if we had been his youngsters.”

Nonetheless, Olsen stated she noticed the writing on the wall at age 23. After being typecast, she determined to stroll away from showbiz.

“I went to the Academy… simply considering I’d keep it up as a result of I wasn’t actually utilizing my creativeness,” she stated. “I actually needed to interrupt the mildew. I’d do my finest work on auditions whereas I used to be enjoying drug addicts or ax murderers – issues like that. And they might say, ‘You’re actually good, however we simply can’t solid Cindy Brady on this position.’ And it’s like, if I can’t do the meaty stuff that I need to do, why am I doing this?”

Immediately, Olsen stated she has a close-knit bond with the opposite “Brady” youngsters. Reed died in 1992 at age 59, and Davis handed away in 2014 at age 88.

“I feel the most important secret behind ‘The Brady Bunch’ is that Stephanie Nolasco Sherwood Schwartz solid individuals who had been fascinating, obtained alongside very effectively collectively, and had been huge on household,” she mirrored. “He made positive all of us had good dad and mom. And the love you see between all of us – it’s completely real. I don’t suppose you may idiot an viewers for very lengthy. I feel the rationale individuals cherished us is that they knew we cherished one another.”

The Related Press contributed to this report.