Susan Olsen was recently heard talking about a rumored on-set romance between cast members of the hit show “Brady Bunch.”
Olsen, the child star who played the role of Cindy Brady, spoke out according to Fox News Digital against the rumors that her on-show mother and sibling had an affair. Addressing the rumors surrounding Florence Henderson and Barry Williams, Olsen said:
“I disliked the rumors that Florence Henderson and Barry Williams had an affair.”
“Barry had a crush on her. She was very kind to him. She let him take her out for her birthday. So I don’t like the implication that’s been out there, that something was going on with them. There wasn’t anything going on with them except for mutual respect and love.”
Henderson gave her own take on this rumor before her passing in 2016, saying:
“He had a crush on me, and he asked me out for a date, which I’ll never forget. He was too young to drive, so his older brother brought him to my hotel, and then I drove us to the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, where we saw a singer. It was so sweet because Barry made sure we had a good table.”
“After the show, his brother picked him up and took him home. The crush was a very serious thing for him, so I was never condescending. I certainly liked him too, but I wasn’t exactly the Cher of the TV mom set.”
Olsen also felt the need to say that rumors of her death were untrue after rumors swirled that she had passed:
“That’s pretty much a fabrication. There actually was a young girl named Susan Olsen who got her coat stuck in the door of a bus and was dragged several blocks and died. And some news source on the East Coast reported that it was me. And there were always rumors that I was dead… It made me feel like Paul McCartney because it was at the same time that there were rumors that Paul McCartney was dead. Rumors of my death are gross exaggerations.”
Olsen, like many other child stars, struggled with accepting her fame. She shared this anecdote about the frenzy that she faced in public:
“Fame was the one part I didn’t like. I loved the work. I loved my castmates. I really loved the industry. I really liked what I did. I was a kid who wanted a job. Fame to me was silly. Just really, really ridiculous. It was like fool’s gold.”
“Shortly after the show premiered, I went to my uncle, a drama teacher in Palo Alto. He taught high school, and he would have these really extravagant productions. And we went up north to one of his productions. I got recognized in the audience and I got mobbed. They had to call the police to get me out. It was this huge crowd of people. I’d seen a grownup who, ‘Oh look, her little face is red. She can’t breathe – here, sign one more.’ It was very, very frightening. I didn’t like it. I was ready to quit the show.”
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