Before: 154 lbs.
After: 116 lbs.
Pounds Lost:38
Program Used: Celebrity Fit Club TV show

With her stick-straight golden locks, groovy style and effortless poise, Marcia Brady, the svelte, miniskirted eldest daughter on the classic sitcom The Brady Bunch, had it all. Who hasn’t identified with her jealous middle sister Jan’s despairing rant of “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!”

In fact, so hopelessly unattainable was Marcia that even Maureen McCormick, the actress who played her from 1969 to 1974, couldn’t live up to her alter ego’s Most Popular image. “The biggest misconception about me is probably that I had a perfect life,” says Maureen, now 50. “It was far from perfect.”

As with many other former child stars, Maureen’s troubles didn’t really surface until The Brady Bunch ended in 1974. Back in the real world, Maureen, then 17, entered public school after years of sheltered on-set tutoring. At William Howard Taft High School in Woodland Hills, Calif., she caved to peer pressure.

One afternoon, she and some girlfriends devoured a gallon of ice cream. “Someone said, ‘Hey, do you know what we can do? We can eat all this and not gain weight,’?” Maureen says, recalling her first bulimic episode. She learned how to make herself throw up, a cycle of overeating and purging that continued for 10 years. It wasn’t long before a boyfriend introduced her to cocaine. Soon she was hooked, and she stayed addicted for six years.

Maureen hit bottom around 1981, while filming The Brady Brides, a spin-off series in which Marcia, Jan and their new husbands move in together. Back in front of the cameras, she struggled to keep her problems under control while portraying the as-ever flawless Marcia.

Maureen, who was raised Catholic and currently attends a Presbyterian church, sought refuge in prayer. “I just drew on a strength higher than myself,” she says simply. “I knew there was nowhere left to go. I turned my life over to God.” When the series was canceled after five episodes, Maureen entered rehab to quit cocaine. She eventually kicked her eating disorder as well.

Joy — and Heartache

With her big hit well behind her — following The Brady Bunch, her career consisted mostly of Love Boat cameos, various Brady recyclings and little-seen movies — Maureen might have continued to flounder if her faith hadn’t led her to what some might consider a miracle: a man who’d never seen an episode of The Brady Bunch. Michael Cummings, a printer salesman, and Maureen met at a church concert.

“He wasn’t into TV,” she says of her now husband of 22 years. “It was very refreshing!” In 1989 their daughter, Natalie, was born, and Maureen stayed home to raise her. Life was good — but the happiness was shattered when Irene, Maureen’s mother and, she says, her best friend, became ill with cancer. She died in August 2004.

“My mom was my everything,” says Maureen. “We talked 20 times a day.” Heartbroken, Maureen again turned to junk food — ice cream, cookies, candy — to ease the pain. She didn’t seem to notice that her petite 5-foot-3 frame was packing on the pounds.

The impetus to deal with her sadness, and her weight issues, came from an unexpected source. Over the years, Maureen had gotten many offers to bare her soul on reality TV shows. With advice from Natalie, now 18 and the spitting image of her mom at that age, Maureen always said no.

Then she got a call from the producers of VH1’s Celebrity Fit Club, where overweight stars embark on a diet plan that includes humiliating weigh-ins and grueling exercise competitions. Maureen took a hard look in the mirror: She had put on 30 lbs. “I thought I was hiding it pretty well,” she says. “But somehow, someone knew I was fat!”

The Fit Club “Bunch”

Maureen wasn’t eager to slim down — or confess her long-hidden troubles — in front of the world, but Natalie, a fan of the show, insisted. “She said, ‘Mom, you gotta do it!’?” recalls Maureen. “So that was that!” The news came as a shock to Maureen’s friend and fellow Brady Barry Williams (who played the eldest brother, Greg). “She surprised a lot of us,” he wrote on his Web site. “However, she thinks it’s something that will be helpful to her and I support her.”

Her first day on Fit Club, Maureen tearily confessed, “These last few years have been the hardest of my life. So I cope with food.” Neither she nor her fellow castmates — who included ’80s pop star Tiffany, American Idol runner-up Kimberly Locke and Saved by the Bell star Dustin Diamond — were shown any mercy. The Fit Club crew set Maureen a goal weight of 125 lbs. (which they later dropped to 118!).

She wasn’t supposed to disclose how much weight she lost before the season finale airs on June 17. But word has leaked that Maureen now weighs in at 116 lbs., 38 less than her high of 154! Her recent photos are a testament to her success, and Fit Club’s Dr. Ian Smith has called Maureen the “hero” of this season!

More liberating than dropping dress sizes, though, has been the chance to be frank about her past, which has made Maureen’s bond with Natalie even stronger. “I feel truth always brings people closer,” says Maureen. “Natalie’s at an age where I felt like I could talk to her openly. She knows she has a place to go if she has problems.”

Now that Maureen has shed the weight — and the specter of “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!” — she’s exploring her past even more deeply. She’s currently working on a memoir. “I feel like I’ve had 300 lbs. lifted off me,” she says. “I feel free now.”