“The Brady Bunch” star Christopher Knight took a different route than most child stars. After his stint on “The Brady Bunch,” he built a career in computer sales and marketing.
Knight made his way back to the entertainment industry eventually, and went on to star in VH1’s “My Fair Brady.” But he is also a self-professed “geek” who really took to selling computers.
“This is a great industry if you can treat it like a hobby,” Knight said in a 2008 interview with PopEntertainment.com. He said he had to learn to separate himself from the characters he played. And he had to forge his own identity outside of show business before he could return to it.
‘The Brady Bunch’ Prepared Knight for the Business World
Knight had been interested in the sciences. But he struggled with dyslexia and Attention Deficit Disorder. So he went into business instead. He had to be a self-starter. Fortunately, he had learned that already on the set of “The Brady Bunch.” And it turned out that in a different industry, his acting credits counted in his favor.
“By being in another industry, by being in business, ‘The Brady Bunch’ becomes an asset,” Knight told PopEntertainment.com. “In the world of television and movies, the Bradys as a credit is not a flag you wave too high. But when you’re in the business world, it’s an incredible ice breaker and door opener.”
“I’ve learned that it can open doors, perhaps, because it’s so unique,” he went on. “It’s a novelty. But the novelty wears off and I’d better be doing my job, because if somebody gave me a favor because it was a novelty, and I burned them, then I’m remembered longer too. So it served me well in business in helping me get started.”
But beyond that ice-breaker, it turned out that being a celebrity also lowered people’s expectations. Once people knew who he was, they steeled themselves for an entitled incompetent who coasted based on his early stardom.
“It was something I had to deal with for a number of years,” Knight added. “Because I was in a new industry, people just assumed I was taking advantage of being Peter and really didn’t have any idea of what I was doing or having any knowledge.”
Knight Has Had to Learn to Live With Celebrity
Even at his age, people still recognize Knight from his years on “The Brady Bunch.” And he struggled with stardom as a kid. But as an adult, he’s had to make his peace with it.
“It’s odd,” he said of being a celebrity. “[Celebrity is] also a responsibility of sorts, one of which I’m expressing in deciding to do non-Brady type stuff. It’s a great honor to have been a Brady. But it’s a tight box. It’s not entirely who I am.”
Once he accepted that he would always be a public figure, Knight found it easier to come to terms with himself, he said.
“As a matter of fact, for most people, Peter is the identity they know. And this thing doesn’t die,” Knight explained. “Then it’s something I have to either learn to live with, and at best learn to love it and appreciate it as others have, or it is going to be a very difficult life. I learned to make certain that it was a great anecdote, but it wasn’t the full me.”
