America’s favorite TV daughter, Brady Bunch star Maureen McCormick, is opening up about her past struggles with addiction.
The 61-year-old actress spoke with ET on Saturday at the Summer Spectacular benefiting the Brent Shapiro Foundation for Drug Prevention, explaining why the cause is so near and dear to her heart.
“I struggled with drug addiction for gosh, six, seven years and it was awful,” she reflected. “I've been sober now for 35 years, and my life has never been so good.”
The former Dancing With the Stars contestant credits her husband of 32 years, Michael Cummings, for giving her tough love that initially inspired her to get sober.
“When we first got together, I was still dabbling, and he said, ‘You know, it's either me or that, take it or I'm out of here,'" she recalled. "And I realized that I didn't want to lose one of the greatest things I had ever found.”
While battling her addiction, Maureen revealed she suffered “quite a few” low points. Among the most heartbreaking? How her drug use “destroyed” her parents.
“I remember my father saying that he was going to turn me into the police… I wish I could take back all the pain that I caused them," she said.
Maureen also feels her hard-partying ways impacted her work on some post-Brady Bunch roles, admitting, “I destroyed certain jobs, there were some where I was really high and it was bad. It was really bad."
With 35 years of sobriety under her belt, Maureen feels an incredible amount of gratitude, noting, “I am so lucky to be here, alive, and I feel like my mind is still really good. I feel very very lucky that I came out of it.”
Today, she’s working hard to inspire those who may be struggling with similar issues.
“If you're an addictive personality, it's a disease and it's nothing to be ashamed of,” she explained. “So many people today are still just incredibly embarrassed about talking about it as if it's a weakness… That's what we're all here for on this Earth, right? To help each other and to talk about our experiences because that's how we all heal and get better.”
Demi Lovato attended the same event and opened up about how she maintains her sober lifestyle. Watch the video below to learn more.
