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Susan Olsen used to get bullied at school because of Cindy Brady
Cindy Brady killed Susan Olsen's playground popularity.
Let's be honest: Everyone has a favorite Brady, and if you're watching the early episodes of the series, your favorite is probably not Cindy Brady. Granted, as Cindy got older, viewers learned to appreciate her, but a young Cindy Brady was, in many episodes, the picture of the annoying kid sibling you had growing up.
Cindy Brady isn't even Susan Olsen's favorite Brady. In Barry Williams's book, Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg, Olsen exclaimed, "I thought Cindy was the single biggest geek in the world! She was an idiot. I mean, I didn't like Cindy, but I really hated the fact that she was so stupid."
Even as a child, Olsen was annoyed by what she believed to be Cindy's dimwitted nature, usually played for comedic effect. The actor said, "I can remember even then being really distressed about it and asking my mother, 'Why? Why do I have to say this stuff?'"
But the problems Olsen faced on set were nothing compared to the ones she faced when she went to school. She said, "What made it worse is that I'd have to go back to school after this and try to live down what Cindy did...you know, with my body. Let's face it, kids are horrible psychotic maniacs, and just plain cruel a lot of the time, so it could be really tough."
One specific episode of The Brady Bunch actually got Olsen ostracized by her schoolmates. In the season two episode, "The Tattle Tale," Cindy must learn the importance of keeping other people's business to herself when she can't stop blabbing everyone's secrets.
Olsen said, "I remember going to school the Monday after the tattletale episode aired, and no one would talk to me. I'd be like, 'C'mon, you know that wasn't me. You know I don't squeal. You know I can keep a secret.' But, in the world of schoolyard justice, being a tattletale is about as low as you can possibly sink."
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