Maureen McCormick Reveals the Heartwarming Reason She Returned to the Original Brady Bunch House (Exclusive)

Maureen McCormick recently visited the original Brady Bunch house for an extra special reason.

McCormick caught up exclusively with PEOPLE alongside her husband, Michael Cummings, at The John Ritter Foundation’s Evening from the Heart Gala in Hollywood, Calif., on Friday, Sept. 12. During the conversation, the actress mentioned that she visited the iconic house, which was recently renovated by HGTV, during an outing with one of her favorite charities. 

“I was back for a charity event,” McCormick, 69, explains. “I love Best Buddies [and] Special Olympics, and they’re kind of connected, so I took a group of Best Buddies there, and they toured the house and they loved it.”

McCormick has long been an advocate and supporter of Best Buddies, an organization that champions inclusion for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

The last time McCormick was at the North Hollywood house was in May 2023, when HGTV revealed the renovations. The network bought the home — which was solely used for home exterior shots on the show —  in 2018. The network then spent several years redoing the interior so that it exactly matched the interior of the home depicted on the show.

McCormick and Cummings also dished on their 40-year marriage, and specifically shared what they think makes things work after all these years.

“You’ve got to have a sense of humor about things. You can’t take things too seriously. You got to let things go and just love the one you’re with. It’s a lifetime deal,” Cummings says.

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“Celebrate the differences?” McCormick adds, while also sharing that they feel “very grateful and thankful to have found each other.”

Both McCormick and Cummings revealed that they were certain about one another “right away” when they first met in the 1980s.

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McCormick also noted that she especially liked that her now-husband had no idea who she was, “which was very refreshing for me, because [he had] no pre-conceived ideas about who I was. So it was really wonderful.”