David Cassidy reveals he has dementia

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Bobby Bank/WireImage(NEW YORK) — One-time Partridge Family star and 1970s pop idol David Cassidy has revealed to People that he’s battling dementia. The 66-year-old entertainer, whose grandfather and mother also were stricken with the memory-loss disease, tells the magazine of his diagnosis, “I was in denial, but a part of me always knew this was coming.”

Earlier this month, Cassidy announced via his official website that he planned to retire from touring at the end of this year.

He tells People that he now has come to accept his illness.  Moving forward, he says “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.”

Cassidy was one of the biggest pop stars in the world in the 1970s, selling around arenas around the globe, his success driven by his role as singing teen Keith Partridge on the TV series The Partridge Family. He’s had a rocky time during the last several years, having been arrested for driving under the influence in 2010, 2013 and 2014, and filing for bankruptcy in 2015. That same year, he was charged in a hit-and-run accident. David also made news this past weekend when fan-shot video surfaced of him slurring his words and struggling to remember lyrics during a concert in Agoura Hills, California.

Cassidy has three confirmed shows on his upcoming schedule — March 3 in Greenwich, Rhode Island; March 4 in New York City; and June 11 in Mentor, Ohio.

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