Here's The Story
Maureen McCormick
Pgs. 275
Maureen McCormick, also known as Marcia Brady, child star of the TV Show the Brady Bunch. The show aired from 1969-1975. This is her memoir. Maureen talks about her early life and history of her mother and father.
Maureen suffered for years for fear it would come out about the dark hidden secret of her mother and grandmother's illness.
She talks about her TV show the Brady Bunch. Her love of her TV show family. Her close relationship with all of her TV family. Her desire to be with them rather than her real family. She had a off and on again love affair with Barry Williams. When the Brady Bunch ended that is when her problems started.
After the show ended her mother allowed her to move into a condo. She became involved going to parties with several celebrities. She became heavily involved with drugs, such as cocaine. She describes how she felt with the use of drugs, and her depression.
She sabatoged so many different job opprotunities because of her drug use. She thought she could keep living this kind of life style until she hit rock bottom. She had a chance to be interviewed for Raider of the Lost Ark with Steven Speilberg. Unfortunately she was so out of it, it never happened.
Also she was known as the goody-goody that I am sure she was type cast on TV and movies. She was probably never offered a real bite in role.
This went on for years untill she met her husband. When she turned to religion, and stopped the drug use. She got married and had a daughter.
But she did not know why she was so unhappy all the time. There were so many ups and downs to her marriage. She was crying for help. She finally went to counseling for help and medication. After heavy counseling and medication treatment she became stable and was on a even keel.
She had a hard time communicating with her mother when she was younger. But after her counseling sessions she finally opened up to her mother. They both discovered each other for what each one became and what they now are.
During this time, one of her brother's, with mental illness is now living with her parents. Her mother is diagnosed with Cancer. Her brother becomes abusive to their mother and father. There is nothing that Maureen can do to help the family.
Her mother and father deny that her brother is doing anything wrong. Her brother is very paranoid and obessive compulsive. He thinks everyone is unclean and dirty. He fires, and denies any care for their mother. After her mother dies, it get's worse for the family. The mother was the cement that held the family together.
In the meantime,Maureen's daughter now 15, gets her tongue pierced. She had been so busy. She wonders when did this all happen. She was so busy trying to help her father get away from his strong hold of her brother. She confronts her daughter and confides in her about all the things she has done.
Maureen decides at 50 to do a celebrity show. She is overweight. During the show she has enlighment that she should write a book about her drug use, and depression and how she overcame this.
I loved the Brady Bunch, I watched the show as I was growing up. I did not know she was a troubled star till I read the book. I am happy to hear she got her life together and back on track.
I usually don't read memoir. But I was looking for something to read that was light and different. This for sure was different. I had at times had a hard time following the story line. I would have liked to know what years she was talking about in her life. I read on other blogs that bloggers did not like this book. They may have not been able to connect because they are younger than Maureen. I, myself am about two years younger. I could connect to what she was talking about. I was not in the drug scene but could connect to the time and culture and the times.
I don't think I would have spilled the beans about all my life faults to my children. Sometimes it can back fire on you. There were times in the book that I said to myself enought already about the drug use. But, this was the point of the book. That she could not cope with her lonliness, she escaped into drugs.