Showbiz Tonight (Headline News)
March 1, 2007
Transcript:
Welcome back to SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, TV`s most provocative entertainment news show. I'm A.J. Hammer in New York.
He was once, of course, heartthrob to millions of girls. There was no bigger star in the 70s than David Cassidy, who of course starred in the classic hit show, "The Partridge Family."
But if you think you knew everything about David Cassidy, wait until you hear this, from David himself. David Cassidy, about to release his new tell-all book about what really happened back then, including wild stories about sex, drugs - and of course, rock and roll.
His experiences with his unbelievable fame are all part of his new memoir called, "Could It Be Forever? My Story."
David Cassidy joining me tonight from Miami, Florida.
It is excellent to have you with us tonight.
DAVID CASSIDY, ENTERTAINER: Thank you, A.J. Nice to be with you.
HAMMER: Well, this book, David, a true eye-opener. For those who really thought they knew exactly who you were based on the guy who was on TV and in the magazines back then. And in fact, there's - there's one chapter in the book called, "Reluctant American Idol."
And - and you - you write about the fact that it's really hard for people to understand exactly how crazy the whole teen-idol phenomenon got for you. And at one point in the book, you actually described it as "hell."
Why would you say it was hell?
CASSIDY: Well, there was a certain amount of, I think, misconception that I was the character I was playing at 21, 22 years old, which I was. The character was 16, and he was an innocent.
In truth, you know, I loved working on the show and - and playing that role. Obviously, I - you know, it was so successful, and I became so successful as a result of it. But David Cassidy was different than he, and therein lies - and belies the whole image.
For me, it was very difficult. I had grown up in the very tumultuous 60s, during the social and sexual revolution. And the world was such a different place then.
And now, because people's perception of what that time was, we forget that it was so innocent, and yet it was so, I think in many ways, shocking now to people to understand that we lived in a very freer society. Now, as a result of the 80s and the AIDS epidemic, people are much more uptight about it.
And it was not unusual in those days for people to meet openly, and too certainly if you were a rock star and experienced the kind of things that I did - it was not unusual for you to have relationships with many different women.
HAMMER: Well, and you.
CASSIDY: .or men.
HAMMER: And - and - and you wrote very openly in - in the book, you know, because you guys did have these squeaky clean images that we all knew from seeing you on camera. That's because of "The Partridge Family." You and Bonaduce and - and, of course, Susan Day and - and Shirley Jones.
One great quote in the book, which I think sums up what you're talking about, you write, "It's bizarre but true that once I became really famous, the only real connection I had with people outside my immediate circle was with women who wanted to have sex with me."
CASSIDY: Right.
HAMMER: How - how - how crazy did it get, David? That was - that was going on quite a bit, wasn't it?
CASSIDY: Well, there were people sleeping outside my home, women. There were some men, to be fair. But there were people that were - hundreds of people outside the gate, where I worked. They would follow me. I had at some point to move out of my house. There was a legitimate, through the FBI and LAPD - there was a legitimate kidnapping attempt.
And I lived in a real vacuum. I had virtually no contact with the outside world, other than the family that I worked with, the musicians I worked with. And I - I would work all day on the set, and then at night I would go and record. And on the weekends, I would go and perform and do concerts.
HAMMER: You - you wrote at.
CASSIDY: So.
HAMMER: You wrote at one point, in fact, before one of your concerts, you went back to your trailer - and this shows the extremes that some of these female fans would go to.
CASSIDY: Yes.
HAMMER: You get back to your trailer, you had about five minutes, I think you had to use the bathroom, and - and there was some young ladies who were hiding out in there. What happened?
CASSIDY: Well, it was actually in the middle of an enormous field where - like a state fair, I think there were 30,000 or 40,000 people there. And it was in the middle of the summer, and there was a trailer there without a bathroom. So they helicoptered me in there, I get into the trailer, and I'm just about to put on my jumpsuit, and I'm looking for the bathroom - there's no toilet.
So I find a jar or something to that effect - it might have been a vase - and I began urinating in the vase.
HAMMER: Oh no.
CASSIDY: No, no, I had to. I mean, what else are you going to do? I'm not - I'm not about to go out and do it in front of 30,000 people.
And I hear these people sort of - these little voices kind of giggling, and the trailer starts to shake. Underneath the table, where the makeup and all that stuff was, there were two young girls, probably 15, 16, that had been in there the night before, when they brought the trailer in.
HAMMER: Oh God.
CASSIDY: They had come, and had been in there probably 12, 14 hours. And needless to say, it was a very embarrassing moment for all of us. But those were the extremes that fans would go and - and way beyond that, in fact.
HAMMER: And David, you - you write a lot about the overwhelming adult responsibilities that you had. As a teenager, you were not living a normal life.
Do you think that's what's going on with the Lindsays, the Britneys and the Parises today, and the pressure - not - not so much the Parises, but really Britney, when you see what she's going through, the kinds of pressure that she's feeling, as - as a young woman not growing up with a normal childhood or - or a normal young adulthood?
CASSIDY: I think the obsession with our culture now - because when I was really at the top of the game, and all of the fame and the success I had, the audience was much more innocent, and there weren't all of these various media outlets. There were 25 magazines; now there's 25,000.
And I think the media obsession and our culture is now so obsessed with fame. For me, it was about the work. It was about going and doing something that I wanted to do well and evidently I did that made me famous, as an actor, as a singer, as a songwriter.
The reason I went back and re-recorded all of these hits on my new CD that's out at Target this week is because those people that were fans of mine grew up at a time when the work was the reason you became famous.
HAMMER: Yes.
CASSIDY: Now, it's really all about going - I mean, your - your lead- in to all of this was really true: our culture is so obsessed with the fame, that all of these celebrities that want to be on the covers of a lot of the rags know exactly what they're doing.
HAMMER: That's.
CASSIDY: It's all - it's very, very calculated.
HAMMER: That's exactly right.
CASSIDY: And.
HAMMER: David - David, I'm sorry, I'm out of time. But I do want to mention that the tell-all book is going to be in stores next week. The CD`s at Target.
And SHOWBIZ TONIGHT is coming right back.
