Maureen McCormick & Barry Williams' Off-Screen Relationship Made Brady Bunch Filming Difficult

"The Brady Bunch" kids might have seemed like a real family on screen, but behind the scenes was a much different story. "We all hooked up with each other at some point," Barry Williams, who played eldest brother Greg Brady, told Us Weekly. Most of the on-screen siblings were romantically involved off-screen, including Christopher Knight and Eve Plumb — who played Peter and Jan, respectively — and Bobby and Cindy actors Mike Lookinland and Susan Olsen. Williams seemed to have gotten around the most — he even dated his TV mom, Florence Henderson. But it was his romantic feelings for co-star Maureen McCormick that got in the way of their scenes as brother and sister.

"I remember the scene, I remember the day Lloyd [Schwartz, the producer] discovered that there might have been a little bit too much attraction between brother and sister," Williams revealed on The CW docuseries "TV We Love." The scene came from Season 4, Episode 23 called "A Room at the Top," where Greg and Marcia (McCormick) were battling for the attic bedroom. McCormick's beauty hindered Williams' performance. "Maureen McCormick is very, very attractive," he said, adding, "So I was, you know, gravitated right to her, and it was coming out in our scenes together." Things apparently got so steamy during the on-screen moment when Greg went to comfort a crying Marcia that Schwartz had to step in. "Lloyd was on the set, and he pulled me aside and said, 'Good scene. I just want you to keep in mind here that she is your sister.'"

Apparently, Barry Williams and Maureen McCormick didn't hide their chemistry very well, as their fellow castmates on "The Brady Bunch" noticed their spark. In a 2025 episode of "The Real Brady Bros" podcast, while reminiscing about the 1973 episode "The Subject Was Noses," Williams' co-star Christopher Knight recalled picking up on their connection. Knight compared Williams to McCormick's on-screen love interest in the episode, named Charlie, telling Williams, "You were looking at her at times the way the directions in the script probably told Charlie to look at Marcia." Williams replied, "Dreamy-eyed?"

Indeed, Williams and McCormick have previously confirmed that they dated, with Williams even claiming in a 2013 episode of "Oprah: Where Are They Now?" that he was McCormick's first kiss. According to the actor, it was while the cast was in Hawaii filming the Season 4 episodes of The Bradys on vacation. "We snuck away, it was a full moon, we walked along the sand, and, well, I knew where that was headed," he said, adding, "Of course, I set it up." However, according to McCormick, Williams wasn't her first kiss, as she told Andy Cohen on "Watch What Happens Live" in 2019. But she gave Williams' kiss a glowing review. "It was good," she said before giving it two thumbs up.

McCormick — who went on to meet her husband after the show ended — has opened up about her own attraction to Williams, telling the "Today" show in 2008 of their on-again, off-again relationship, "It was awkward to be in scenes playing brother and sister. People started seeing it." As much as the pair tried to keep it professional, there was no hiding their attraction to each other.