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Brady Brunch alum Maureen McCormick couldn’t believe it when she heard that her TV mom, Florence Henderson, had passed away on Thursday, November 24. In an emotional new interview with Entertainment Tonight set to air on Monday, November 28, the actress remembers her former Brady Bunch costar Henderson and her final moments with the actress.
“Just total disbelief … I had just been with her. I had just seen her. I think everyone was just shocked,” McCormick told ET’s Nancy O’Dell, referring to how Henderson had cheered her on from the audience at Dancing With the Stars just three days before she passed away on Thanksgiving.
“She was an incredible example of how to life your life,” McCormick added of her costar, who she worked alongside with on the classic family sitcom from 1969 to 1974. “She was that sweet. She really was. She was the loveliest of ladies.”
After the ’70s sitcom wrapped, McCormick said that her relationship with Henderson remained strong.
“Florence played our mother on the show, but I always felt like she was more of a sister,” the actress, 60, added. “She was so young at heart, and just a really good friend. … Throughout my life, she has been a huge supporter in my hard times. She never gave up on me. She always just believed in me and gave me hope and strength. She gave that to everybody — it was so genuine and so pure and so loving and so from her heart.”
During their times off set, McCormick recalled to ET that the duo would hang out as friends, sometimes in their “pajamas all day” or in their “bathing suits by the pool.”
As previously reported, Henderson passed away from heart failure at the age of 82 at Los Angeles’ Cedars-Sinai Hospital.
McCormick’s comments come after her fellow Brady Brunch costars also took time to remember Henderson. Barry Williams, who played the eldest son, Greg Brady, told the Daily News that he would also turn to Henderson during hard times.
“She was very wise, worldly and helpful,” he recalled. Click here to read more heartfelt tributes to the late actress.
