Pop heartthrob David Cassidy reveals he is battling dementia and plans to stop touring to concentrate on his health
POP heartthrob David Cassidy has revealed he is battling dementia.
Cassidy, 66, confirmed he was fighting the disease after he was filmed slurring and falling off stage during a gig.
The Seventies teen idol, who first gained fame with his role as Keith in TV sitcom The Partridge Family, revealed all to People magazine in the US.
He said: “I was in denial, but a part of me always knew it was coming.
“I want to focus on what I am, who I am and how I’ve been without any distractions. I want to love. I want to enjoy life.”
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The star, who has suffered from alcohol problems in the past, said he had decided to stop touring.
He repeatedly struggled to remember lyrics to songs he had been singing for nearly 50 years at his Californian gig.
His mother “disappeared” into dementia and died aged 89.
Cassidy said: “In the end, the only way I knew she recognised me is with one single tear that would drop from her eye every time I walked into the room.
“I feared I would end up that way.”
The actor, who received an Emmy nomination for his appearance on Police Story in 1978, was most recently seen on TV in a 2013 episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.
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