'The Brady Bunch' Star's Shocking Show Confession — Lead Actor Reveals Heartbreaking Reason His Own Mother 'Hated' the Iconic TV Sitcom
One of the lead stars on 'The Brady Bunch' had a parent who couldn't stand the series.
Dec. 31 2025, Published 8:00 p.m. ET
Christopher Knight scored the most significant acting role of his career playing Peter Brady on The Brady Bunch. Still, he has now revealed his mom absolutely loathed the wholesome family show.
Knight, 68, played the middle Brady brother throughout the show's five seasons and numerous specials and movies. During The Real Brady Bros podcast, he revealed to co-host and co-star Barry Williams that his mother, Wilma, "hated" the show that made him a star for deeply personal reasons.
Christopher Knight's Mom 'Would Have Liked Life More Like The Bradys'
Christpher Knight is seen with his 'The Brady Bunch' TV siblings on a 2019 red carpet.
"My mom thought it didn't depict real life," Knight said of the series that saw a man with three young sons played by Robert Reed, marry a widow with three daughters, played by Florence Henderson.
The series that ran on ABC from 1969 through 1974 followed the ups and downs of the blended family, especially as the children grew into teenagers.
"Her family wasn’t like that, and there was no way she was able to make her family like that," Knight confessed to Williams, 71, about why Wilma couldn't relate to The Brady Bunch.
"So she was discounting whatever was good about it," he added. "I do know that she had issues in her relationship with my own father that seemed to suggest that she would have liked life more like the Bradys."
The A Very Brady Christmas star said moving between his home life and on-set life "was a challenge to live in these two environments, competing."
Unhappy Home Life
Knight said it took him years to realize there was 'nothing wrong' with the show's 'aspirational 'messages.
“I think that our family wasn’t working really well… the Bradys was," Knight spilled about why his mom found his role on the show difficult to watch.
"It took me years to understand that, wait a second, there’s nothing wrong with this thing. It’s just aspirational."
"Even if it isn’t real, if you want to take that as a premise, then this is really, you know, too good to be true. What's wrong with too good to be true? I mean, it’s what we all react to in our programming around Christmas time…and all the programs are uplifting and aspirational, and there is a place for that. There just wasn’t in her world," he said of Wilma.
Christopher Knight's Mom Hated Children's Shows
Knight's mom got mad at him for watching classic cartoons.
Knight's mother also wanted her son to watch more mature fare and not be a fan of children's series, including an iconic cartoon, even though he was only 10 years old when he landed the role on The Brady Bunch.
"My mom got mad at me for watching The Flintstones … She just didn't like anything that played to kids," he shared.
"If it wasn't thought-provoking or depth-y or gritty, you know, she liked to think of herself as an 'artiste' and as a result had that kind of attitude."
'Brady Bunch' Saved His Family From 'Homelessness'
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The actor revealed his family was 'nearly homeless' when he landed the role of Peter Brady at age 10.
Knight previously elaborated on his mother's haughty attitude about his TV success, even though his role helped pay the bills for his family.
"My mom was an artist, and my dad was a stage actor. Television was just a place you had to go to earn some money because real actors worked on stage," he recalled during a 2012 appearance on Oprah: Where Are They Now?
Despite Knight's family being "very educated," they were "nearly homeless" until he landed the gig of Peter Brady.
