Susan Olsen’s Most Embarrassing ‘Brady Bunch’ Episode Isn’t What Fans Expect

Susan Olsen was just 8 years old when she joined The Brady Bunch as Cindy Brady, the youngest of the iconic television family.

Decades later, she still recalls one episode from the show’s five-season run that made her want to hide — though it’s not the one most fans think of.

Many longtime viewers assume her least-favorite moment came during the second season’s “A Fistful of Reasons,” the episode where her character develops a lisp.

But Olsen recently clarified that a different episode left a much more lasting impression. “Probably, the lisping one should have been the worst,” she told People in a rare interview. “But to me, it was always the Shirley Temple episode. I did a good Shirley Temple impression.”

That episode, titled “The Snooperstar,” aired on February 22, 1974, near the end of the show’s final season.

In it, Cindy dreams of stardom and emulates 1930s child actress Shirley Temple. Wearing a curly blond wig and a ruffled red dress, Olsen’s character sings the signature Temple tune “On the Good Ship Lollipop,” originally featured in the 1934 film Bright Eyes.

While the storyline might have seemed like an innocent nod to Hollywood nostalgia, for Olsen, it was painfully awkward. The concept had first been pitched back in the show’s first season when she was still 8.

But by the time it was produced, she was 12 years old — an age where playing a much younger child, especially while singing and dancing on camera, felt far more cringeworthy than cute.

“It was really super awkward, and to have me singing ‘Good Ship Lollipop’ was enormously embarrassing,” she said of the scene, which she performed opposite actress Natalie Schafer.

Olsen, now 64, has mostly stepped out of the spotlight in recent years. She was recently spotted running errands in Los Angeles, sporting a Hello Kitty Gudetama T-shirt and her natural gray hair.

Despite having distanced herself from acting, she continues to reflect on her experience as a child star — particularly the more difficult parts.

Over time, her feelings about the episode have evolved, thanks in part to a friend who helped her see it in a new light.

“He told me that that’s my standout moment, because it is so stupid of Cindy to be 12 and want to be Shirley Temple. And he says that I did it with so much conviction that it made it extra funny,” Olsen says.

However, when the episode first aired in 1974, she was far from laughing. Still in school at the time, Olsen vividly remembers how self-conscious she felt about her classmates seeing it. “I was like, ‘Can I take a week off of school when this one airs?’ ”

This story was originally reported by Parade on Aug 28, 2025, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.