“The Brady Bunch”’s Eve Plumb Warns Aspiring Child Actors ‘Once You’re Famous, You Can’t Go Back’

Victoria EdelTue, May 5, 2026 at 8:22 PM UTC

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Eve Plumb in 'The Brady Bunch' (left); and in May 2026 (right)Credit: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty; Gary Gershoff/Getty -

Eve Plumb opened up about the advice she wished she had before becoming a child actor

Plumb, best known for playing Jan on The Brady Bunch, said that "once you're famous, you can't go back"

The actress also reflected on how her parents were "protective" of her growing up

Eve Plumb was able to stay grounded on The Brady Bunch thanks to her parents' influence.

Plumb, whose new book, Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond, is out now, opened up about her career as a child star in an interview with Fox News on Sunday, May 3. “I think that the power to say no is very valuable as an actor,” the 68-year-old said of a key lesson she learned from her parents, Flora and Neely Plumb.

"And as a person, we always talk about setting boundaries. And my parents always made sure that I had time off and that I did the right things,” she said. “You don't have to say yes to everything. And I am still that way today."

From left: Ann B. Davis, Eve Plumb, Robert Reed, Susan Olsen and Florence Henderson in 'The Brady Bunch'Credit: CBS via Getty

Plumb began working as an actress in 1966, with TV commercials and guest roles on series, including Lassie and Gunsmoke. She was just 10 years old when she was cast as middle sister Jan Brady on The Brady Bunch — and she and the cast quickly became pop culture icons.

Looking back on her career, the actress said, "I would hope for every child actor that they have good protective parents, like mine, who saved their money and kept them away from anything that seemed suspicious.”

She also had a major warning for aspiring child stars (and their parents) with their eyes on fame and fortune. "And also, to just know that once you're famous, you can't go back. So be careful if you really want to choose it,” she said.

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The Brady Bunch ran for five seasons, from 1969 to 1974. The other Brady kids were played by Maureen McCormick, Susan Olsen, Barry Williams, Christopher Knight and Mike Lookinland, with Robert Reed and Florence Henderson as their parents and Ann B. Davis as the family's housekeeper.

After the series ended, Plumb pivoted to more dramatic work, including 1976's Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway and its sequel, NBC's 1978 adaptation of Little Women and the 1978 TV movie Secrets of Three Hungry Wives.

Eve Plumb in 'Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway'Credit: Alamy

"It took me a long time to realize I wasn't a cute kid anymore," Plumb told Fox News. "It probably happened in my late 20s, when I finally stopped getting everything I auditioned for. I had such confidence going along and moving through all of my roles, that it took a while for me to experience the disappointment of being an actor in Hollywood."

Plumb reunited with her Brady family multiple times, including in the 1981 TV movie The Brady Girls Get Married and 1988's A Very Brady Christmas, as well as the two spinoff series each show inspired. She appeared, decades later, in the 2019 TV series A Very Brady Renovation, which saw the Brady kids renovate the house used on the show.

Outside of the Bradys, Plumb appeared in episodes of The Love Boat, Fantasy Island, The Facts of Life, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, Blue Bloods, Crashing and Bull.

Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond is on sale now, wherever books are sold.

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”