Drugs, Sex, & Parties: Maureen McCormick & Life After the Brady Bunch

On screen in the hit television show "The Brady Bunch", Maureen McCormick was the vision of perfection. But off-camera, her life was a very different story, as she describes in her new memoir, "Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice", which hits stores on Tuesday.

McCormick was just 14 years old when she first began playing the role of the all too perfect Marcia Brady on "The Brady Bunch", which ran from 1969 to 1974 on ABC. Now 52, she is finally coming clean about her struggles during that time, and the period after the show ended.

The youngest of four children born to father who abused and cheated on their month, McCormick privately struggled with anxiety and insecurity, and even an on-screen romance with TV brother Barry Williams. After the show's demise, McCormick's life spiralled out of control and she took up a hard-partying lifestyle in Hollywood, complete with cocaine binges and parties at the Playboy Mansion and home of Sammy Davis Jr, an unwanted pregnancy, and swapping sex for drugs.

As a young adult in Hollywood, McCormick found it difficult to regain her earlier success, and landed some TV and movie roles. However she soon developed a reputation for being unreliable because of her addictions. She even messed up an interview with Steven Spielberg because she was high.

1985 she married actor Michael Cummings, and finally began to get sober, after many interventions, stints in rehab, and experimental therapies. The couple had a daughter, Natalie, and McCormick continued her battle against depression, fighting it with medication, therapy, and the help of her former "Brady Bunch" castmates.

In recent years McCormick has become a bit of a reality TV star. She first publicly confronted her past issues as the winning contestant on the VH1 reality show, "Celebrity Fit Club." Since then, she's also appeared on Country Music Television's series "Gone Wild" and "Outsider's Inn."

Speaking on her iconic role as Marcia Brady, McCormick said:

"I'll always be struck by how much a part of people's lives Marcia is and always will be. But now I'm not bothered by the connection. It took most of my life, countless mistakes and decades of pain and suffering to reach this point of equanimity and acceptance."

"Here's The Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice" by Maureen McCormick is out in stores on Tuesday, with a MSRP of $25.95 in hardcover. Alternatively, you can order it on Amazon at a discount for $17.13 and while you're there, check out the video where Maureen McCormick talks about her new book.