The Brady Bunch’s Eve Plumb recently opened up about how much money she makes from her time playing Jan Brady. It turns out, she’s not reveling in riches.
“If I had a dime for every rerun episode, I’d pay off the national deficit,” Plumb wrote in an intro to her recently released memoir, Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond, according to Page Six. She pointedly added, “I don’t.”
Plumb played Jan Brady from 1969 to 1974. However, in an interview with PauseRewind, she candidly said, “We don’t make residuals.”
Barry Williams, who played Jan’s stepbrother, Greg Brady, wrote in his memoir, Growing Up Brady: I Was a Teenage Greg, that salaries have considerably changed since the ‘70s.
“In our fifth and final year, the highest salary among us kids was $1,100 a week,” Williams wrote.
Page Six noted that although 22 episodes would have earned $24,000, there was a caveat.
“Take into consideration agent commissions, taxes, and the fact that some of the kids were expected to contribute to their families,” Williams said. “It was enough to indulge in toys, but hardly enough to carry you through the slow periods that inevitably followed.”
As for residuals, “payments for subsequent airings of the show dried up shortly after we finished filming,” Williams said.
Plumb’s new memoir was released on April 28 and includes a foreword from Christopher Knight, who played Peter Brady in The Brady Bunch. Beyond just residuals, Plumb also shares the behind-the-scenes story of her Hollywood career.
Keegan-Michael Key called her new book “a heartfelt journey behind the bright lights and iconic sets of The Brady Bunch.”
Plumb was recently featured on WGN News to talk about Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond. Check out the interview here: