‘Brady Bunch’ star Mike Lookinland says he went ‘fully off the rails’ in his 20s after growing up on hit show
“Brady Bunch” star Mike Lookinland admitted his behavior was “fully off the rails” after finding mega stardom with “The Brady Bunch.”
Lookinland and Christopher Knight opened up about their experience as young adults in the Hollywood industry after starring as Bobby and Peter Brady in the 1970s sitcom.
“How come you guys didn’t end up as a mugshot?” Jaybeau Jones asked during an episode of “The Real Brady Bros.” “…There’s no one’s ever said a bad thing about any of ‘The Brady Bunch’ kids.”
“Maybe because we didn’t wanna disappoint Florence and Bob,” Knight responded. “I mean, that was the beginning of it. It’s like there’s certain people that you just don’t wanna disappoint. I think that was stronger with me with those two than it was my own parents.”
Florence Henderson and Robert Reed starred in “The Brady Bunch” as Carol and Mike, portraying parental figures for Lookinland and Knight.
Lookinland admitted he struggled more in his 20s.
“I lived my childhood in my 20s because I couldn’t when I was a child,” he explained. “And in my 20s, I had a car and money and freedom… I was fully off the rails.”
He later added: “I’m just thankful that not every man, woman and child had a high-def camera in their pocket when I was 25, like they do now, because it would have ruined my life.”
Knight said he had heard “stories” about what Lookinland had gotten up to back then. “Some of that was under the radar,” Lookinland responded.
“What happens in Salt Lake City stays in Salt Lake City,” Knight joked.
During a previous episode of “The Real Brady Bros.,” Lookinland and Knight’s co-star Susan Olsen revealed she “almost died” while filming the first episode of “The Brady Bunch” as Cindy Brady. While rewatching the pilot episode with her co-stars, Olsen revealed it was the last time there was a close-up shot of Cindy because “I got injured.” Her co-stars couldn’t hide their shock at the news as she continued, “Yeah, I almost died.”
“On the Culver lot, they were shooting something — I would assume, in the girl’s bedroom — and I was getting body makeup on my legs,” Olsen said. “I was standing on a makeup chair and something from the catwalk, where they keep all the lights and everything, fell.”
“It hit the makeup man first, [bounced] off the body makeup woman, and hit me in the face.”
“You can tell, if you look at the [wedding] ceremony, and you see the three girls on one side, if you were to zoom in really tight, you can see my face is quite swollen,” Olsen explained. “I look different. You can even see it in some of the early publicity shots. You can tell my face is a little swollen.”
“The Brady Bunch” aired from 1969 to 1974. The show featured a blended family of three boys and three girls from previous marriages.
The sitcom followed the family’s life, showcasing adventures and more.
