HARSHA, HARSHA, HARSHA

‘Brady Bunch’ Star Reveals Shocking Weight-Loss Demand

The actress says that “if you watch it very closely,” viewers can observe her gaining the weight back.

Christine Taylor is opening up about the unexpected weight-loss request she received for her breakthrough role in The Brady Bunch Movie.

Taylor shared details of the audition process for Marcia Brady in the 1995 comedy, based on the original 1969–1974 sitcom, during an Office Ladies podcast appearance on Wednesday.

The 55-year-old actress recalled getting a call to audition for the film after playing Marcia Brady in a live stage version of The Brady Bunch.

Taylor recalled feeling confident going into the audition as a lifelong fan of the sitcom.

“I knew it in my core that there was nobody who could do it better than me,” she told the podcast’s hosts, The Office stars Jenna Fischer and Angela Kinsey, referring to the role of the eldest sister, previously portrayed by Maureen McCormick, now 70.

Continuing, “I really felt like if I don’t get this job, then I don’t know that this is the business I should be in. Like this was made for me.”

Taylor landed the role, but not without receiving one big request.

“I was not a super heavy person, but they asked me to lose 10 pounds,” she said, adding that it was a “very different time” in the entertainment industry.

Taylor, who was in her early twenties at the time, agreed to lose the weight for the role.

“Of course I was embarrassed when that ask came my way,” she said, but added that it was not uncommon in her profession at the time. “I wasn’t the only person ever being asked to lose weight for a role back then. That was just how things went.”

Although Taylor lost 10 pounds as requested, she struggled to keep the weight off.

“The joke is, over the course of the movie, if you watch it very closely, I start to put the 10 pounds back on,” she said. “I’ll come into a scene looking a little rounder. And then like I exit the scene looking a little thinner, just because of how they had to reshoot things.”

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Taylor attributed the weight gain to one craving.

“Non-fat frozen yogurt was the big craze at the time. And that was my treat,” she said. “I was like, ‘Oh, I wrapped. I’m gonna meet my roommate. We’re gonna go to The Big Chill and get a frozen yogurt with a huge thing of sprinkles on the side.’”

The movie was a huge success, and Taylor went on to reprise the role in the 1996 movie A Very Brady Sequel. She also starred alongside Drew Barrymore in the 1998 hit film, The Wedding Singer.

Taylor met actor Ben Stiller, 60, on the set of the 1999 thriller Heat Vision and Jack.

The couple tied the knot in May 2000 and welcomed two children: Ella and Quinlin. The children were born in 2002 and 2005, respectively, and follow in their parents’ footsteps as actors.

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In 2017, after 17 years of marriage and starring together in hit comedies Zoolander, Zoolander 2, and Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, Taylor and Stiller separated.

The couple never divorced and rekindled their flame in February 2022. They were last spotted together on September 2, attending Day 4 of the 2026 U.S. Open in New York City.

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Roosa RahkonenReporter, The Looker

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