Susan Olsen, known for her role as Cindy Brady on the popular family sitcom the Brady Bunch, is determined to clear up a persistent rumor that has surrounded the show for years. In a recent statement to Fox News Digital, she directly addressed the ongoing speculation suggesting an inappropriate relationship between her on-screen mother and brother.
“I disliked the rumors that Florence Henderson and Barry Williams had an affair,” Olsen admitted to the news outlet. “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.”
Florence Henderson and Barry Williams previously spoke about the rumored affair
In an interview with People Magazine in 1991, Henderson, who passed away in 2016 at the age of 82, revealed that they both went on a date. “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,” she confessed. “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.”
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He discussed the widely circulated rumor In his book, Growing Up, Brady. “When those little things called hormones start kicking in, you get excited by even inanimate objects,” he wrote. “It wasn’t that I sought to bed her. I just wanted to spend time with her. It was flattering that she gave me any attention at all.”
Susan Olsen also addressed rumors about her death
The actress also clarified a misconception that she had passed away. “That’s pretty much a fabrication,” Olsen revealed. “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.”
Olsen further stated that media outlets made it look as though she was the one involved. “And some news source on the East Coast reported that it was me. And there were always rumors that I was dead,” she confessed. “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.”