Actress Florence Henderson, who starred as the wholesome mom on "The Brady Bunch," is suing a company that sells T-shirts using her picture with the words "Porn Queen" underneath, saying the label was highly offensive and false.
Henderson, who played the squeaky-clean Carol Brady to a family of three boys and three girls in the hit 1970s series, said in court papers filed in Los Angeles Superior Court that she was "exposed to contempt and ridicule" by the shirts.
Ironically, though, when answering a fan question on her official Web site if she would ever do a Playboy layout, the actress said "I think I could do it, and look a lot better than some of the people who have been in there!" While Henderson doesn't feel the need to prove this fact, she jokingly added, "But if I did it, then I'd have to fight off all the young men, and the older men too!"
The TV mom, who thinks Howard Stern is funny and loves to get laughs herself, found no humor in the T-shirt's taunting. This seems to be what the creating company, Serial Killer, wanted.
"Our product is an expression, a statement of reality…Serial Killer products are funny and make old people upset," the Serial Killer Web site says. "Serial Killer is a clothing company that doesn't give a f--- what your parents think."
In addition to the Henderson T-shirt, the company offers many celebrity shirt designs. Audrey Hepburn is labeled as "Hooker," Farrah Fawcett as "Slut," and child actress Susan Olsen, who played "Brady Bunch" daughter, Cindy, is coined "Jail Bait."
Henderson, who in recent years acted as a spokeswoman for Wesson Oil, has also sued a small northern California store called Gravestones for an ad that spoofed those commercials.
The gift store ran Henderson's photo in an ad next to the words: "When I'm not soaked in Wesson Oil from head to toe, I'm shopping at Gravestones."
Henderson said in the suit that she "suffered loss of reputation and standing," emotional distress and an invasion of her privacy. Ironically again, when asked in her Web site if she really used Wesson Oil, she said, "Of course I do. I rub it all over my body."
She seeks unspecified damages and injunctions against both defendants of use of the ad and sales of the product.
Henderson, who makes frequent public appearances, is also the national spokeswoman for Damp-Rid, a mold and mildew control product.
