Eve Plumb Ditched Her ‘Brady Bunch’ Image By Playing Teen Sex Worker

While angsty middle-child Jan. 

“You have to , The Brady Bunch was really not popular or considered interesting at the time,” she told Yahoo! Entertainment in 2023 while auctioning off some of her Brady memorabilia. “It’s only after the fact that all of these themes and digging into it and discussing and figuring it out has happened.”

The Brady Bunch “was not considered relevant. It was considered saccharine, and the concurrent shows were like Mod Squad and other hard-hitting TV shows, so we were seen as filler,” Plumb explained. “It was considered very safe, and I think that was our lane and we stayed in it.” 

So what happened to teenage Plumb when her saccharine sitcom ended after a five-year run? She wanted to break free from her squeaky-clean image, born on a show so afraid of controversy that it wouldn’t show a toilet in the kids’ shared bathroom. Her solution? Audition for the leading role in a tawdry TV movie called Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway. 

“That was really great,” she said. “I was really fortunate, because it was such a departure from Jan, and that was a big shocker. That was really, really quite the shocker for everyone.” 

What was so shocking? Plumb’s Dawn didn’t simply run away from home — she began working as a sex worker, guided by a hilariously ‘70s-era pimp named Swan. 

The TV movie was a ratings smash, no doubt in part because sitcom watchers couldn’t believe Jan Brady was turning tricks on Sunset Boulevard. “I think it was very fortunate that that came along for me, because it was the instant transition from Jan to adult, which is very difficult for a lot of child actors to make, because once you’re not cute anymore, nobody wants you,” Plumb said. “So, that was very fortunate for me, so that’s why I did it. It was a very quick, giant step.”

While Plumb was making cash on the streets in TV movies, her sitcom brothers and sisters were reuniting for The Brady Bunch Variety Hour. She was the only cast member who said no to the new series, beginning the legend of Fake Jan. 

The official explanation for Plumb’s absence was that she didn’t want to get lassoed into another five-year commitment. But in a 1977 interview with the Journal Tribune via CatchyComedy, it was clear she was ready to move on for other reasons. 

“I love my role as Dawn in both films (Plumb also starred in a sequel), probably because it's several light years away from Jan Brady,” she confessed. “I don’t mean to sound ungrateful. I loved The Brady Bunch years. I learned a lot, and the people were terrific to work with. But now I want to go on to other things and become an individual — not just one of the Brady group.”