Florence Henderson raised a lot of children — and not just the six kiddos from The Brady
Bunch.
Because of her long-lived cultural impact on the TV-watching world and her influence
on many viewers' upbringings, she's been nicknamed "America's Mom."
Her late 2016 passing at the age of 82 hit fans particularly hard in a year filled with
so many celebrity deaths.
The sitcom star was beloved for her tempered management of such a large brood on-screen
and her fun-loving attitude when the camera's weren't rolling.
Even though many television viewers might feel like they know Florence Henderson as
their shared fictional mother, there are still a few details about her life that might surprise
audiences.
Here's the untold truth of Florence Henderson.
Reality bites
There's a reason Henderson's on-screen affections for her Brady brigade read as genuine.
She was trying to make up for the motherly love that she never had in her own life.
The actress revealed that, as the 10th child to her impoverished parents, she wasn't given
much affection as a kid.
In response, she portrayed Carol Brady as the kind of mom she always wished she had
and was glad to have the chance to share the love with so many on-screen and off.
Breaking molds
Just before she became a legend of the sitcom scene, Henderson also made history by becoming
the first female guest host for The Tonight Show in 1962.
She was hired to fill in on the show and later earned the title "Today Girl" on The Today
Show.
Her stint on the program wasn't as well remembered as her turn as Carol Brady, of course, but
it was certainly an auspicious start to what would become a flourishing career in television.
Mom squad goals
Shirley Jones, who played the similarly beloved on-screen mom on The Partridge Family, might've
been on a competing show.
But the two were really close friends in real-life, going back to their earliest days on the stage.
The pair met early on in their careers when they were starring together in a stage performance
of Oklahoma! and became lifelong gal pals.
Interestingly enough, Jones revealed in her 2013 memoir that she had originally received
an offer to star as Carol Brady in the series, but that she turned it down because she didn't
"want to be the mother taking the roast out of the oven and not doing much else."
If that seems harsh, well, yeah, it kinda was, but these two have always had a tongue-in-cheek
relationship with one another where the public is concerned.
Henderson once said she'd gone out for the Broadway revival of Oklahoma! but "that b****
Shirley Jones got it!"
Jones snapped back by joking, "Either she was smiling when she said it…
Or she wasn't smiling when she said it, in which case the new Florence Henderson is about
to see how it feels to get her block knocked off by an old and well-trained Danny Bonaduce's
mama."
Something tells us she might've had her work cut out for her in that bout.
"There's only one thing left to do…"
"What?"
"Really get in there and fight."
Double mom duty
According to many of her pretend kids on The Brady Bunch, Henderson was just as nurturing
a mother behind the scenes as she was when the cameras were rolling.
In fact, actress Susan Olsen, who played the youngest girl, Cindy Brady, said that Henderson
once saved her life during a production accident while they were filming in Hawaii and she
fell off of a ledge.
Olsen said she considered Henderson to be a mother figure to her, and even her children
considered Henderson their second grandmother.
She also credited Henderson with balancing her two motherly universes so well, adding
that she often spent time with Henderson's real children so that she could make time
for everyone.
Sick smooch
Actor Barry Williams, who portrayed Henderson's on-screen stepson Greg Brady, claimed to have
once dated Henderson in his autobiography.
Henderson herself clarified on her website that the story was "blown way out of proportion"
and that it was only a date "because Barry thought it was."
Meanwhile, Williams nevertheless revisited the story after her passing to again tell
the tale of that time he once planted a smooch on his TV mom, saying that he invited her
out to talk shop as an "excuse to pick her up in the car and take her out and try to
steal a kiss."
Getting very sleepy
Although Henderson had plenty of work to do on-screen and raising her real-life quartet
of kids, she still pursued a second career passion — as a licensed hypnotherapist!
She first got into the practice to deal with her own fear of flying and stage fright, and
she used the trade to help others around her deal with their issues.
She was once even asked by Christopher Knight, who'd played Peter Brady on the show, to appear
on his show My Fair Brady and perform some of her counseling with then-girlfriend Adrianne
Curry.
Parting gifts
Henderson might have maintained a wholesome public image over the years, but she's had
her fair share of naughty moments over the years as well.
Henderson revealed in her 2011 biography that she had a one night stand with former New
York City mayor John Lindsay, which took place while she was still married to her first husband
Ira Bernstein.
Her comeuppance for that bad behavior came quickly, as she contracted a case of crabs
from the politician.
Henderson didn't shy away from the creepy-crawly subject, however, writing:
"Guess I learned the hard way that crabs do not discriminate, but cross over all socioeconomic
strata.
He must have had quite the active life.
What a way to put the kibosh on a relationship."
Senior vitality
Even as an octogenarian, Henderson refused to stop living life.
"Which booking is this?
Are you the pervert who wanted to go to town on each other while I make a pie?"
Not only did she stay active with her extracurricular activities and become the oldest-ever Dancing
With the Stars contestant, but she was a vocal proponent of staying young on the inside and
outside later in life.
"Things don't stop working in your body or your mind and it's so important to keep moving."
She even boasted about being "friends with benefits" with a gentleman caller and said
that it's "foolish" of society to think that senior citizens don't enjoy the horizontal
mambo as much as everyone else.
That might sound dirty, but Carol Brady would definitely approve of her mantra.
"The magic of youth… too bad we grow up and lose it."
"Who said we have to lose it?"
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