After confessing he is battling dementia, the star reveals how the relationship with his daughter has crumbled over the years.
David Cassidy has been known for decades throughout both television, film, and music – beginning his career as a teen heartthrob on the beloved TV musical sitcom The Partridge Family. The now-66-year-old musician revealed that he is battling dementia following media coverage of a performance where he acted erratically and struggled to remember the words to a song he’d been singing for almost 50 years.
“I was in denial, but a part of me always knew this was coming,” He told People Magazine. “I want to focus on what I am, who I am and how I’ve been without any distractions,” he says. “I want to love. I want to enjoy life.”
Cassidy has also announced that he is retiring from performing to focus on himself and ensure his health. Now, he is opening up about how his relationship with daughter, Katie Cassidy, has been nearly non-existent.
The former child star has two children, Katie and Beau Cassidy, with whom he only has a relationship with one – a fact that, he says, has been true for most of their lives.
“I wasn’t her father. I was her biological father but I didn’t raise her,” he says. “She has a completely different life,” He tells People Magazine in a new interview. “I’ve never had a relationship with her.”
Katie Cassidy has found success in a similar industry as her father and is a popular actress taking on roles in hit shows like Arrow, Supernatural, and the revival of Melrose Place among other projects.
Cassidy explained that he and his daughter, along with her mother, Sherry Williams, are no longer in contact, but he still maintains pride for the great achievements she has made and how far she has come in her career.
“I’m proud of her,” He said lovingly. “She’s very talented. It’s hard for me to even accept how old she is now, like 30.”
The strain in his close connections with family and friends has been attributed to his battle with alcoholism and he has admitted that it’s taken a toll on his personal relationships.
Although Cassidy and his daughter are no longer in contact, he did state that his relationship with son, Beau, who he says is “One of the best people you’ll ever meet in your life and it’s that that I’m proud of.”