Here's the Story: Surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice | 
| Author: Maureen Mccormick
Publisher: William Morrow
Category: Book
List Price: $25.95
Buy New: $11.99
You Save: $13.96 (54%)
New (48) Used (16) Collectible (5) from $11.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  45 reviews
Sales Rank: 397
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 288
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.1
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 5.8 x 1.3
ISBN: 0061490148
Dewey Decimal Number: 791.45028092
EAN: 9780061490149
ASIN: 0061490148
Publication Date: October 1, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
|
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Marcia! Marcia! Marcia! Marcia Brady, eldest daughter on television's The Brady Bunch, had it all—style, looks, boys, brains, and talent. No wonder her younger sister Jan was jealous! For countless adolescents across America who came of age in the early 1970s, Marcia was the ideal American teenager. Girls wanted to be her. Boys wanted to date her. But what viewers didn't know about the always-sunny, perfect Marcia was that offscreen, her real-life counterpart, Maureen McCormick, the young actress who portrayed her, was living a very different—and not-so-wonderful—life. Now, for the very first time, Maureen tells the shocking and inspirational true story of the beloved teen generations have invited into their living rooms—and the woman she became. In Here's the Story, Maureen takes us behind the scenes of America's favorite television family, the Bradys. With poignancy and candor, she reveals the lifelong friendships, the hurtful jealousies, the offscreen romance, the loving support her television family provided during a life-or-death moment, and the inconsolable loss of a man who had been a second father. But The Brady Bunch was only the beginning. Haunted by the perfection of her television alter ego, Maureen landed on the dark side, caught up in a fast-paced, drug-fueled, star-studded Hollywood existence that ultimately led to the biggest battle of her life. Moving from drug dens on Wonderland Avenue to wild parties at the Playboy mansion and exotic escapades on the beaches of Hawaii, this candid, hard-hitting memoir exposes a side of a beloved pop-culture icon the paparazzi missed. Yet it is also a story of remarkable success. After kicking her drug habit, Maureen battled depression, reconnected with her mother, whom she nursed through the end of her life, and then found herself in a pitched battle for her family in which she ultimately triumphed. There is no question: Maureen McCormick is a survivor. After fifty years, she has finally learned what it means to love the person you are, insight that has brought her peace in a happy marriage and as a mother. Here's the Story is the empowering, engaging, shocking, and emotional tale of Maureen McCormick's courageous struggle over adversity and her lifelong battle to come to terms with the idea of perfection—and herself.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 40 more reviews...
 Here's the Story:surviving Marcia Brady and Finding My True Voice November 19, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read this book in just a few days, because I like reading books about real people. I had grown up with the Brady family, and I thought it would be a very interesting book, which it was. BUT, however, it had so much profanity and vulgar words in it, that it took away from the story line. I don't use any kind of bad language, and these words in the book truly offended me. I don't think that they would have been necessary, whether Maureen had actually said them or not in her life's situations. I have read several other books about real people, and did not contain bad language. She had a lot of stuff going on in her life growing up, but the use of drugs was certainly NOT the answer to deal with them.
 Great Reading!! November 19, 2008
Great Reading!! So much about her I never knew. I grew up with the Brady Bunch and it was so interesting to know what happened behind the scenes. She really overcame alot of tough times.
A Terrifically Honest and Spontaneous Writing November 18, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I felt like I was reading a long juicy letter from a very close friend. The sincerity with which Maureen McCormick reveals issues and situations that burdened her heart and mind throughout her life is phenominally amazing and courageous. She invites the reader to clearly see and understand that celebrity or not, no one is exempt from the vulnerability experienced because of life's & family's most painful hardships. The reader gets to know Maureen deep down, and thus I say again, I felt like I was reading a very long and personal letter from a very close friend who needed to unburden her heart and soul of so much heartache - from which she then finally begins to heal and be happy as she accepts the life she's been given and who she really is.
Maureen shares in her book the learned facts that to overcome life's major problems, close family members' betrayals and such, one must be true to oneself. This is very difficult to accomplish, but it's what she (and all of us) need to do in order to heal and become who we are really meant to be. This can sometimes take a lifetime to accomplish, but as Maureen shows us based on how she learned this, it's the only way to find one's purpose in life.
Maureen takes us through the Brady Bunch days in detail, as well as the ups and downs of her acting career after that. She intimately shares what her real home life was like and how she felt more "at home" on the set with her Brady family. Her "crushes" with the Brady men as well as guest stars to the show and other actors at the studio were just the beginning of the many men that would come through her life, yet none of them gave her the true feeling of love and being wanted for more than a short period at a time. Many times she ruined her own chances with relationships as well as career moves due to her drug problems. The loneliness and pain she incurred upon herself in those days both shocks and mystifies the reader - it definitely describes an entirely different person who is Maureen McCormick, not the perfect Marcia Brady she became known as.
Part of the real actor is no doubt within every television character played, however, no script or persona can identify the total true person. Fame came to Maureen very early in life which may be why some of the problems she incurred grew out of control. Her real family was totally opposite from her television family - she didn't have the support and guidance she needed until much later in life. A great deal of misunderstanding stood in the way of what could have been a wonderful relationship with her mother, a woman Maureen later described as being truly the most strong woman she knew. However, the misunderstanding regarding her mother's illness and/or a lack of thorough understanding about it caused extremely unnecessary fears and paranoia which gripped both mother and daughter for a great many years. Maureen also discusses her dealings with depression and the courage she needed to finally admit it and ask for help, a help which literally reversed the direction of her life.
In this book the reader will also meet all of Maureen's family, the happy and the troublesome times they lived through, as well as her husband, Michael - a man who stuck with her despite some very difficult periods of time, allowing both of them survive and grow stronger as a couple and a family along with their daughter, Natalie.
Maureen should be given much credit for her courage and truthfulness in coming forward with very intimate problems, fears as well as joys that have encircled her life. She has won many of life's battles and for that we can wholeheartedly congratulate her. After reading her book, I can honestly say that I admire her. The book surprised me, as well as shocked me, throughout many of its chapters as I read some of the horrific things she experienced. And then, as I got about 2/3 through it, I began to see the light of hope and the benefits of her persistance and stick-tutiveness that reversed her life and actually, won her life back. She finally was able to bask in the joy of who she was, to feel good about herself and thereby be the loving treasure that she was intended to be to her family, her friends, and her fans.
I am Maureen's age and I grew up watching the Brady Bunch. Yes, as a young adolescent back then, I too found her as the kind of teenage role model that all we girls at school wanted to resemble. But that was a long time ago - today we are all adults, and we should all know that a character in a show is just that - a make-believe character. But Maureen McCormick, the real woman, by writing this book and baring her heart and soul, has shown the world through her words that honesty, being true to oneself, is the key to a peaceful and happy life. Maureen teaches us this very important and valuable lesson through her book, through her experiences, through her mistakes. I see her as a strong woman. I admire her courage and I wish her continued luck and strength in life. I wholeheartedly recommend everyone and anyone to read this book. It's an eye-opener, and will teach every reader lessons on life they will never forget. In many ways, Maureen's honesty reveals that all of us can find bits of ourselves within her book somewhere along the way. That's what I feel connects the reader to her, and this is why while reading this book, I felt I was growing closer and closer to her. I felt like I was truly reading a long letter from a very close and very good friend. She should be truly commended for a terrific job in writing this book.
Marcia, Marcia, Marcia November 18, 2008
I am currently enjoying this book by Maureen McCormick and would highly suggest that any boomers who grew up watching The Brady Bunch read it. I was one of those girls who grew up wishing I was Marcia Brady. Now that I understand how hard it was for Maureen to live up to the standard set by Marcia, I am glad I grew up just plain old Jane. It is good to know that Maureen has worked to overcome her issues and that she really is just a regular person like the rest of us. I am very happy I purchased this book.
Great book - great insite November 17, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I really liked this book. It was interesting, thought not surprising, to learn of Maureen's struggles (most child stars seem to struggle). However, her honesty was refreshing. She was very candid about her drug abuse and the impact it had on her life. I had a hard time putting the book down. I would recommend this book to anyone who enjoys memoirs, especially those written by stars who actually have a story to tell!
|
|
|
