‘Brady Bunch’ Star Eve Plumb Reveals Why Her Iconic ‘Marcia’ Line ‘Really Bothered’ Her

Eve Plumb has revisited one of television’s most unforgettable lines — and admitted it didn’t always feel so funny from her perspective.

The actress, best known for playing middle sister Jan Brady on The Brady Bunch, reflected on her experience during an appearance on CBS Mornings on April 27.

During the interview, cohost Gayle King brought up Jan’s iconic “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!” moment from the season 3 episode Her Sister’s Shadow.

In the storyline, Jan struggles to stop being compared to her older sister Marcia and eventually gets frustrated and puts all of Marcia’s awards in a closet. When confronted by her parents, Jan famously tells them: “Well, all I hear all day long at school is how great Marcia is at this, or how wonderful Marcia did that. Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!”

Writing in her new book, Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond, 68-year-old Plumb says that while it made audiences laugh and was mimicked, it “really bothered” her, per People.

“It, oddly enough, felt like a schoolyard taunt,” she noted, adding that things only got worse when it was parodied on Saturday Night Live in the early ’90s, with comic Melanie Hutsell.

Plumb said: “It took me back to being that age, and it felt as if someone was making fun of my performance. But this was an adult actor on a comedy show, and I was an adult. So it was a very odd reaction to have, but that’s sort of how I felt.”

During her appearance on CBS Mornings, Plumb also spoke of the positives of the role of  Jan Brady, as many viewers related to her being the middle child who struggles for attention.

“It’s such an amazing thing, and it’s like an honor to have people feel this way about Jan,” she admitted. “It’s so great, and I really appreciate it. At the time, we were sort of insular. We were making our shows. We didn’t have social media. So we were just trying to make the best show we could and I feel it was great that they really included these storylines, that children have emotions, children have hard times. And to have people like that is is really wonderful.”