If you grew up in the seventies, Marcia Brady was the gold standard. She was the girl next door with the perfect hair, the perfect grades, and that iconic "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia" hair flip that drove Jan up the wall. But for decades, a specific rumor has followed the actress behind the character: did we ever see Maureen McCormick in Playboy?
It’s one of those urban legends that feels like it must be true because so many child stars of that era eventually shed their wholesome image in the pages of Hugh Hefner’s magazine. Everyone from the Facts of Life girls to the Different Strokes cast seemed to consider it a rite of passage.
But here is the thing. Maureen McCormick never actually posed for Playboy. Not in 1974, not in the drug-fueled eighties, and not as a "comeback" move later on.
The Playboy Mansion Connection
So, where did the confusion come from? Honestly, it’s mostly because Maureen’s real life was a million miles away from the AstroTurf backyard of the Brady house. While America saw a sweetheart, McCormick was spending her nights at the Playboy Mansion.
She wasn't there for a centerfold shoot. She was there because, during her well-documented struggle with cocaine addiction, the Mansion was the epicenter of the Hollywood party scene. In her raw 2008 memoir, Here’s the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice, she doesn’t hold back. She describes wandering through those legendary parties, often in a drug-induced haze.
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She once shared a story about an encounter at the Mansion that almost took a very dark turn. She met an older man there who offered her drugs in exchange for being filmed naked. In the grip of a serious addiction, she almost did it. It’s a heavy, uncomfortable detail that highlights just how far she had spiraled from the girl who sang about "Sunshine Day."
Why the Rumors Won't Die
People love a good "good girl gone bad" narrative. It’s basically a Hollywood staple. Because McCormick was so open about her addiction—admitting she traded sex for drugs and even showed up to an audition with Steven Spielberg while completely "messed up"—the public brain just fills in the blanks.
- The "Nude" Factor: While she didn't do Playboy, she did do a topless scene in the 1980 film Texas Lightning. In the pre-internet days, seeing "Marcia Brady" topless on a grainy VHS tape was enough to start a wildfire of "she's in Playboy" rumors.
- The Mansion Stigma: Simply being a regular guest at Hefner's house in the late 70s was enough to get you labeled a "Playboy girl."
- The Memoirs: When her tell-all book dropped, the headlines were sensational. Phrases like "Sex, Drugs, and the Playboy Mansion" were everywhere. If you only read the headline, you’d assume there was a pictorial involved.
The Reality of "Surviving Marcia"
McCormick’s actual story is way more intense than a magazine spread. She battled bulimia. She dealt with a family history of mental illness and the terrifying (and ultimately unfounded) fear that she had contracted syphilis from her mother at birth.
By the time she was filming The Brady Brides in 1981, she was at rock bottom. Her agent once had to literally kick down her door to find her high in a closet. When you’re living that kind of reality, posing for a magazine is the last thing on your mind. You're just trying to breathe.
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Interestingly, several of her co-stars had their own brushes with the "scandalous" label. Barry Williams (Greg) famously wrote about their off-screen romance, and Eve Plumb (Jan) spent years trying to distance herself from the "middle sister" trope by taking on gritty roles. But Maureen was the one who truly lived the "Hollywood Dark Side" experience.
Sorting Fact from Fiction
If you go searching for those vintage issues today, you'll find plenty of other 70s icons. You'll find Suzanne Somers. You'll find Farrah Fawcett. But you will never find a Maureen McCormick centerfold.
What she did do:
- Frequented the Playboy Mansion as a guest during the late 70s and early 80s.
- Appeared in movies with brief nudity to try and break her typecasting.
- Wrote a best-selling book detailing the "Playboy lifestyle" she fell into.
What she didn't do:
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- Sign a contract with Playboy Enterprises.
- Pose for a professional Playboy pictorial.
Basically, the "Maureen McCormick in Playboy" story is a classic case of guilt by association. She was in the building, she was in the scene, and she was definitely struggling, but she never became a Playmate.
The Legacy of a Survivor
Today, Maureen is in a much better place. She’s been sober for decades, thanks in large part to her husband, Michael Cummings, and her faith. She’s embraced the Brady legacy—even participating in the A Very Brady Renovation on HGTV—without letting it define her entire existence anymore.
She's proof that you can go through the absolute ringer of child stardom and come out the other side. She didn't need to take her clothes off to prove she wasn't Marcia; she just needed to tell her truth.
If you’re looking to understand the era better, skip the back issues of old magazines and pick up her memoir instead. It’s a much more honest—and frankly, much more shocking—look at what happened when the cameras stopped rolling on the most famous family in America.
Next Step: You might find it interesting to compare her journey with other stars of that era. Take a look at the career shifts of Eve Plumb or the memoirs of Barry Williams to see how the rest of the "siblings" handled the intense pressure of being a Brady.