David Cassidy on the Web
David Cassidy's Book Bombshell
March 19, 2007
www.theinsideronline.com
Former teen idol DAVID CASSIDY is spilling his guts to our CHERYL WOODCOCK about his candid new book Could it Be Forever? and his new CDs, Could it Be Forever, a "Partridge Family" greatest hits CD, and David Cassidy Part. II: The Remix, a remix album produced by CRAIG J that will be sold exclusively at Target.
He tells Cheryl that he feels pretty confident about the remix CD after holding a focus group of sorts with his teenage son and two pals: "I said, 'Okay, I want you to be brutally honest' -- toughest audience in the world for me, 16-year-old boys -- and [after] 40 seconds of the first track they turned and looked at each other and they looked at me [and] went, 'Wow, that's cool, Mr. Cassidy.'"
In the 56-year-old's new book, he writes candidly about the trials of coming of age as a teen heartthrob (he reached iconic status after playing Keith on "The Partridge Family") and also on his relationship with his father, actor JACK CASSIDY.
He tells Cheryl about his dad's relationship with his step-mom, SHIRLEY JONES, who played his mom on the hit series: "He spent a lot of his life being Mr. Shirley Jones, and in truth he was arguably one of the most respected, if not, the most respected theatrical actor on the stage and in New York on Broadway."
David goes on to say: "He was tortured by the fact that he wasn't famous. He wasn't. So when I became famous he really had a problem. [Because] he was so gifted and so talented but yet he was bi-polar, he was manic depressive and alcoholic. And you put that combination together and... it's a very lethal combination."
Though David tells us that he eventually forgave his father, he says that regarding his relationship with his own children, "People have asked me, 'You know... how did you learn to be such a good father?'" David says, "It was easy, I just did everything he didn't do."
In the book, he also speaks candidly about his sexuality, telling Cheryl, "When I see photographs of myself -- I'm talking 20, 21, 22 years old -- I was very thin, I had really long hair, and people always questioned my sexuality and I always found it rather amusing."
He says, "I had no doubt about my sexuality. ... I was amused by the constant patter about it... whispers about it."
He goes on say, "I'm not attracted to men. But that doesn't mean I don't appreciate the fact that I have a lot of gay fans. It's a beautiful thing."
And David tells "The Insider" that he doesn't get the controversy over gay issues, saying, "If we're truly a free society in this country, why is there such emphasis upon this now and why is it such a taboo? Why are people... now I just read the newspaper today -- the most successful newspaper today -- and in one section of it there was a man who was saying what a disturbing trend same-sex marriages are having on... our culture and our society. Why?" David asks, "Why? Are they not able to love a child? I believe they are."
And after everything that has happened to him over the years, David tells us that he has found his own serenity: "For the last 25, 30 years I've been a healthy eater -- it's just waking up in the morning and feeling I really am glad I'm here, glad to be alive."
For more with David Cassidy, and more on his new book and CDs, watch tonight's "Insider"!
