Florence Henderson: Brady Bunch Star Wanted Job for Mother Carol Brady
John Parsons
Updated on March 16, 2026
Brady Bunch star Florence Henderson said Friday that she begged showrunners to portray Carol Brady as a working mother rather than a stay-at-home mom.
“I begged for a job [for Carol], ’cause I’ve been a working mother. I have four children. [They said] ‘no you can’t. Alice is taking care of—I go, ‘ugh, well then give me a job,'” the actress and cooking show host told The HuffPost Show. “So when we started having all the reunions, I said, ‘I will not come back unless you give [Carol] a job.’ So you know what they made me? Screw them. A real estate agent!”
Henderson’s Brady Bunch demands coincided with the big push in the 1960s and 70s when women aimed to dispel the idea that they could either pursue a career or raise a family—but not both.
“I was working way before my children,” Henderson said. “I worked through four pregnancies.”
[HuffPost]