The Brady Bunch: a show about a closeted homosexual who marries a beard and adopts her kids so that he can stay firmly in the closet.
"
Reed and fellow Northwestern student Marilyn Rosenberger married in July 1954.
[34] They had a daughter, Karen Rietz, before divorcing in 1959.
[35][36]
Reed kept the fact that he was actually
gay a close
secret, since public knowledge of his true sexual orientation during that era would likely have damaged his career.
[37][38]
Several years after his death, Reed's
Brady Bunch co-stars – notably
Barry Williams and Florence Henderson – publicly acknowledged Reed's sexual orientation, and revealed that the entire cast and crew of
The Brady Bunch were aware of it.
Henderson spoke of Reed being
in the closet during a 2000 interview with
ABC News: "Here he was, the perfect father of this wonderful little family, a perfect husband. Off camera, he was an unhappy person – I think had Bob not been forced to live this double life, I think it would have dissipated a lot of that anger and frustration. I never asked him. I never challenged him. I had a lot of compassion for him because I knew how he was suffering with keeping this secret."
[37]
Regarding Reed's unwillingness to discuss his sexuality, even off-camera and in private, Williams told ABC News during an interview in 2000 that "Robert didn't want to go there. I don't think he talked about it with anyone. I just don't think it was open for discussion–period. Had it ever come out that Robert Reed was gay, it probably would have caused the demise of the show. I think it would have hurt his career tremendously."
[37]
In November 1991, Reed was diagnosed with colon
lymphoma, a rare form of
colon cancer.
[39][40][41] When he became ill, he only allowed his daughter Karen and actress
Anne Haney, a close friend, to visit him.
[35][39] Haney later said of Reed, "He came from the old school, where people had a sense of decorum. He went the way he wanted to, without publicity."
[35] Weeks before his death, Reed called Henderson and asked her to inform the rest of
The Brady Bunch cast that he was terminally ill.
[23] He died on May 12, 1992, at Huntington Memorial Hospital in
Pasadena, California, at age 59.
[7]
Initially, Reed's death was solely attributed to cancer, but details which were written on his death certificate were later made public, revealing that Reed was also
HIV-positive.
[42] The actor had been diagnosed with HIV in the spring of 1991.
[40] It remains unknown when Reed contracted HIV because he kept his medical condition and private life a secret from the public until his death, telling only a few close friends"