Eve Plumb releases memoir ‘Happiness Included’ Tuesday, shares Jan Brady behind-the-scenes stories

Show summary Hide summary

• 🔥 Quick Facts
• A Child Star’s Unexpected Journey to Becoming Jan Brady
• Six Decades Beyond Jan Brady’s Shadow
• Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Brady Bunch Moments and Family Secrets
• A Musical Dynasty: Her Father’s Influence on Her Hollywood Path
• What Makes ‘Happiness Included’ a Powerful Memoir That Matters?
• Will Eve Plumb’s Memoir Finally Let Fans Hear Jan Brady’s Real Voice?
  • Sources

Eve Plumb just revealed the untold stories behind Jan Brady’s icon status. The iconic actress, 67, releases her memoir “Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond” this Tuesday, April 28, and exclusive excerpts unveil secrets from her legendary six-decade Hollywood career that fans have never heard before.

A Child Star’s Unexpected Journey to Becoming Jan Brady

At just 10 years old, Eve Plumb walked into a Hollywood studio bungalow in 1969 where her fate was decided in barely 10 minutes. Sherwood Schwartz, creator of “The Brady Bunch,” and director John Rich looked at her once and said the words that changed everything: “Well, she looks like our girl.” Plumb never even read a script during her audition. She had no chemistry test with other cast members. But she resembled Florence Henderson, who would play her TV mother, and that was enough.

In her new memoir, Plumb openly discusses this lightning-quick casting moment with stunning authenticity. After four years working in commercials for brands like Mattel and Glad, playing guest roles in shows like “Lassie” and “Mannix,” this job felt precarious but thrilling. “You just don’t know if this is going to be a thing or not,” she recalls in recent interviews. “It’s fun for now, but it’s all very tenuous.”

Six Decades Beyond Jan Brady’s Shadow

The 272-page memoir offers far more than nostalgia about America’s most memorable middle child. Plumb chronicles her entire six-decade career in television, stage, and visual arts, written with coauthor Marcia Wilkie. Fans will discover her first marriage and divorce, her years discovering who she wanted to become, and her evolution from child actress to painter, entrepreneur, and author. She even auditioned for “The Exorcist” and appeared in the provocative TV movie “Dawn: Portrait of a Teenage Runaway” as a teen prostitute. These risky roles showed she refused to be trapped by the Jan Brady brand. She studied improv at the Groundlings with Lisa Kudrow and later met her husband Ken Pace, a saxophonist, with whom she has been married since 1995.

“Over the years, many people have asked me to share my stories,” Plumb tells PEOPLE Magazine. “But I finally said to myself, if I’m going to share my stories, it’s going to be in MY book.” That decision transformed her journey into a powerful personal statement rather than someone else’s narrative.

Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Brady Bunch Moments and Family Secrets

Within the pages lies previously unrevealed Brady set stories that shaped an entire generation. Plumb reveals how Florence Henderson kept the boisterous child cast in line with humor and, as they grew older, surprisingly bawdy jokes that Plumb wishes she could remember. “Florence was very good at making lighthearted jokes,” she writes, “and she was also great at telling a dirty joke.” The cast learned to navigate their hierarchy quickly, with “kids poking each other, laughing, giggling,” before being told to straighten up for filming. Robert Reed and Florence Henderson modeled professionalism that set the tone for the entire show’s five-season run from 1969 to 1974.

Detail	Information
Title	Happiness Included: Jan Brady and Beyond
Release Date	Tuesday, April 28, 2026
Pages	272 with private archive photos
Publisher	Kensington Books, Citadel

A Musical Dynasty: Her Father’s Influence on Her Hollywood Path

Plumb’s father, Neely, was a legendary music producer and A&R executive who discovered major artists. He signed The Monkees to RCA Records and found The Carpenters at a battle of the bands contest, according to Richard Carpenter himself. He also signed Jefferson Airplane and produced soundtracks for “The Sound of Music,” “True Grit,” and “Taxi Driver.” This musical atmosphere shaped young Eve’s childhood in ways she never expected. In her memoir, she reveals that Davy Jones of The Monkees would tell her as a girl, “I’m going to marry you when you grow up.” In the iconic Brady Bunch episode “Getting Davy Jones,” it was actually Marcia who was chasing the heartthrob, but Eve had already met him through her father years before. “You know, you don’t know at 10 or 12 how your life is going to be,” she laughs, recalling her youthful belief “it seemed like a possibility.”

Her mother was a dancer who provided balance to Neely’s industry connections. Both parents protected her during her early acting years, with meticulous financial records and a protective but open attitude toward challenging roles. Her early memories include wearing white gloves, anklets, and Mary Janes for formal auditions, contrasting with dirt and overalls when she played Pony Alice in a Western episode of “Lancer,” a role she found liberating.

“I really wanted to talk about those early days in Hollywood because it was so much fun and so precious and different. It was the most vulnerable part. All of this I find for me is very vulnerable because I don’t usually talk about myself unless I’m giving interviews on a project.”

— Eve Plumb, author

What Makes ‘Happiness Included’ a Powerful Memoir That Matters?

Unlike typical Hollywood tell-alls filled with scandal, “Happiness Included” takes a refreshingly honest, humble approach. Plumb’s worst trouble amounted to being a teenage getaway driver for shoplifting friends, not child star excess. The memoir reveals how she reinvented herself after Brady ended, moving into an artists’ house in Echo Park, cutting her famous blond hair, and discovering her passion for painting. She pursued period pieces like “Little Women” miniseries, appeared on “The Love Boat,” “Fantasy Island,” “Murder, She Wrote” and countless other shows. She found joy in improv comedy, entrepreneurship through her Plumb Goods home line and “Happiness Included” coffee brand, and continues exhibiting paintings in galleries nationwide.

The book resonates because Plumb’s resilience comes through on every page. “That free time was great and also a little bit boring,” she reflects on her single years, “and that’s why I started painting. I’m really glad I had that time because it really taught me resilience.” Her journey proves that life beyond one iconic role can be richer, more authentic, and deeply fulfilling.

Will Eve Plumb’s Memoir Finally Let Fans Hear Jan Brady’s Real Voice?

For decades, “Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!” has followed Plumb everywhere. That iconic complaint from the third-season episode “In Her Sister’s Shadow” became embedded in pop culture, especially after a 1990s SNL sketch mocked it. Plumb admits in her memoir that the sketch felt like a harsh mocking of me as a child. Yet she embraces her legacy because the Brady Bunch continues to bring joy. She’s created Jan’s Locket, a potential jewelry line referencing an episode where Jan received a mysterious gift and feared it was stolen. She hopes for another TV series and acknowledges “there always is” another Brady project around the corner. “It just keeps evolving and changing and presenting new opportunities.”

Book signings begin May 1st at The Next Chapter bookstore in Long Island at 7 PM, and continue May 11th at Barnes & Noble The Grove in Los Angeles at 7 PM. Pre-orders are available now through all major retailers including Amazon, Penguin Random House, Kensington Books, and indie bookstores nationwide.

Sources

• People Magazine – Exclusive first look at Eve Plumb memoir with author interview
• San Bernardino Sun – Comprehensive interview with Eve Plumb about Brady Bunch behind-the-scenes memories
• Yahoo Entertainment – Eve Plumb reveals real-life Davy Jones connection and her father’s music industry legacy