All language subtitles for How.It.Really.Happened.S04E08_English

It was lonely at the top.

It was very empty, and...

I lost my identity.

It was too much.
I needed to find a reason

for myself
to get up in the morning.

You know, I needed to find
a reason...

to live.

♪♪

♪♪

Welcome to
"How It Really Happened."

I'm Hill Harper.

David Cassidy first captured
America's hearts

playing the handsome lead singer
of a fictional musical group

in the 1970s hit
"The Partridge Family."

The success of the show
propelled David

to pop-idol status
almost overnight.

Nine songs performed
on the show

landed in the hot
100 billboard charts,

and the single
"I Think I Love You"

made it to Number 1.

It seemed like he had it all,

but David had secrets

even his closest friends
didn't know about.

In the end, he was undone
by his demons,

and when the curtain
finally came down,

it closed on a pained man

destroyed by a lifetime
of unhappiness.

Tonight, the complicated life

and mysterious death
of David Cassidy

and how it really happened.

Camerota: Very sad news.

Actor and singer David Cassidy
has died at the age of 67.

The 1970s teen heartthrob
rose to fame

as the star of
"The Partridge Family."

You get the news and you think,
"Oh, my good friend,

my TV brother is dead.

This is terrible."

I was just blown away
when I heard the news.

It was like, "Wait a second."

The name just looms so large
in our culture.

If you were a kid back
in the '70s,

you can't not know who he was.

We were shocked
'cause it came so suddenly.

Everyone thought,
"This is terrible.

What's happened to him?"

I don't know that David Cassidy
saw his end coming.

I don't think he saw this
coming at all.

♪♪

[ Crowd screaming ]

Carnes: I don't know
how many people know

how giant
his success really was.

[ Screaming continues ]

Parsons: "The Partridge Family"
was a hit TV show in the 1970s,

and it catapulted David Cassidy
into superstardom

as the lead singer,
Keith Partridge.

♪ I think I love you ♪

♪ Isn't that
what life is made of? ♪

♪ Though it worries me to say ♪

♪ I never felt this way ♪

He would get out there
and really become that guy,

singing those songs.

Gosh, he was a heck
of an entertainer.

♪ I remember April ♪

♪ When the sun was in the sky ♪

Halperin: There was nobody
bigger than David Cassidy,

even his concerts.

Moses: He's the biggest,
he's selling the most records,

he's filling
the biggest stadiums.

He sold out places like
Wembley Stadium...

David!

Halperin:
...Madison Square Garden.

It was crazy.
It was just a sea of people

over the horizon,
screaming for David and crying.

Carnes: If you weren't there
to witness it,

if you weren't right there,

I don't think you can know
the impact David really had.

Thank you.

[ Audience screaming ]

Cut it right here, huh?
[ Laughs ]

He had a really cute,
beautiful face.

He had a great smile.
He had a great voice.

Somebody that a little girl
could dream about.

Girl: David!

Moret: The girls fell in love
with him instantly.

Oh, God, he's beautiful!

Oh, my God, David!

I will always remember
David Cassidy

as the biggest star
in the world.

[ Crowd screaming ]

David Cassidy's parents,
Jack Cassidy and Evelyn Ward,

were both actors,
Broadway actors.

Moret: His dad was a Tony
award-winning stage actor.

He and his wife traveled.

They were on the road
most months of the year.

So he grew up lonely.

Moret: David Cassidy was raised
by his maternal grandparents

and didn't even know his parents
were divorced for two years.

They hid that from him.

He found that out
when he was 6 years old.

Halperin: He felt abandoned,

and that's why he didn't trust
people his whole life.

My father left

and pretty much abandoned
my mom and I,

and my difficulty with my father

was not really any different

from many people
who come from broken homes

and who suffer
that sense of rejection.

Moret: David Cassidy was a child
of the '60s,

and he was not
that wholesome character.

Halperin:
He was always in trouble.

He was expelled twice for drugs

and once for bad behavior.

He dabbled in pot and hash,

but David's drug of preference

was THC and psychedelic drugs.

He was just your basic teen
trying to find himself

and hoping that maybe he'd
follow the path of his parents

into a show business career.

Camerota: After high school,
David left California

and he moved to New York City,

and that's where
he took acting classes.

I'd followed in my father
and my mother's footsteps.

I wanted to be in the theater.

I got an agent,
got some headshots,

and I went on 200 auditions
and got a no.

And finally got a featured
role in a Broadway show.

Parsons: While he was in
New York doing this role,

someone from CBS spotted him.

It was sort of his discovery
moment.

And he got small parts
on various TV shows.

He was on "Adam-12"...

I went to a party
after school.

I dropped some pills --
Red Devils.

Guy said I probably
wouldn't even feel them.

What's he talking about?

...and "Marcus Welby, M.D."

There's nothing
you wanted?

No, unh-unh.

I have everything.

Even diabetes.

I was trying to make a living,

I was trying to pay the rent,

and I was a young actor
who had started on Broadway

and was on my way to being --

I'd consider it a credible,
working, respected young actor.

I did one job that might never
had seen the light of day,

which was the pilot
for "The Partridge Family."

♪ Hello, world, here's a song
that we're singing ♪

♪ Come on, get happy ♪

"The Partridge Family"
centered around a widow

who was left with her children.

They became a band called
The Partridge Family.

[ Guitar riff ]
Quiet!

Mom, I wish you wouldn't stuff
your ears every time we play.

It's very discouraging.

Can I help it
if I'm a music lover?

Parsons: David Cassidy played
Keith Partridge, the lead singer

of The Partridge Family band
in the show.

His mother in the show
was played by Shirley Jones,

his real-life stepmother.

The producer came to me one day
and he said,

"Shirley, we have
a wonderful young man

that we're really interested in
to play Keith Partridge,

but," he said, "we want to know
how you feel about it."

I said, "Who is it?"

He said, "It's David Cassidy,
your stepson."

I said, "No kidding!
That's great!"

I came walking on the set,
and David looked at me

and he said,
"What are you doing here?"

He said, "What are you
doing here?"

And I said,
"I'm your mommy on this show."

[ Laughs ]

He said, "What?!"

They hadn't told him.

"The Partridge Family" debuted
in September of 1970.

Somebody's out
to drive me crazy.

[ Exhales sharply ] It all
started when I lost my pickle.

[ Audience laughs ]

Maybe we should call the
Bureau of Missing Vegetables.

The producers fell in love
with David.

He was what
they were looking for.

He had the looks,

he had the voice,

and he certainly had
the charisma and charm.

You could tell there's something
different about this guy,

and it's gonna be,
"Hang onto this

'cause it's gonna be amazing."

It's the kind of thing
that really tapped into

the American sense
of family values.

It was good, clean fun.

Parsons: The Partridge Family,
they sold real albums.

They had best-selling songs.

"I Think I love you"
was their first big hit.

♪ I think I love you ♪

♪ I think I love you ♪

There was no social media.

There was no Internet.

There were three networks,

and everyone was watching
one of those three networks.

He became a bubblegum
pop star overnight.

David was a heartthrob.

David was every
little girl's dream.

But nobody knew what life
was like for David Cassidy

when he went home at night

and turned the lights off.

Cassidy: The reason that it was
troubling for me

was that people perceived me
as something that I wasn't,

and I was unable
to speak with this voice.

Moses: I was the Editor
of "Tiger Beat" magazine.

My focus was always
our biggest star,

and we knew that David
was going to be it.

And basically,
we did whatever it took

to turn out
that massive product.

And that is photo sessions
and doing interviews

because that meant that there
was gonna be coverage

from front to back.

Cassidy: The reason that it was
troubling for me

was that people perceived me
as something that I wasn't,

and I was unable
to speak with this voice.

They saw the actor play the part
every week

on this television show,

they bought magazines
and material

that had my picture
of me smiling and all that,

and I was on the back
of cereal boxes.

Moret: His career was such where
you'd think

he'd be making
millions of dollars instantly.

He wasn't.
I think David Cassidy's contract

was about $600 a week,

and then on weekends --
Friday, Saturday, and Sunday --

he would do concerts.

Two concerts Friday,
two Saturday, two Sunday.

A grueling, grueling schedule.

They worked that kid to death.

In every city we went to,
first of all, we'd land

and it would be a mad dash
through the airport

because, you know,
just girls chasing him.

I mean running,
running full tilt,

you know, to get to the car
and get out of there.

But then we'd get to the hotel,

he was a prisoner
in his hotel suite

because down below
were crowds of little girls.

He could not leave the hotel
all day long.

Moret: If you think about
David Cassidy's life

at the peak of his success,

it's not surprising that he
would turn to alcohol or drugs

because he was alone.

He was completely alone.

He was famous yet isolated.

He was successful, but he
couldn't enjoy the success.

Most people had no idea
about David's demons.

Cassidy: When I was drinking,
I just became lonely.

I would go and buy a bottle
of booze and come back

and go upstairs in my room,
close the door,

and stay there and drink alone.

That's a sad, dark place to be.

Halperin:
He really wanted to be like
a Mick Jagger or a Bob Dylan,

somebody more profound.

He was really wrestling
with what he was doing.

Moret: You feel like you're
a prisoner of a role

and a prisoner in a role

that you just
don't identify with.

It's got to be tragic.

So, after the TV show,

after the concerts,
he had nowhere to go.

He had nowhere to unwind.

He had no one
to share this with,

and he would retreat into drugs
or a bottle.

Camerota: In the early 1970s,

David Cassidy is one of
the world's biggest stars,

but he's conflicted.

He wants fans to see

that he's more
than just Keith Partridge,

and he wants to be taken
seriously as a musician,

and he's also looking
for acceptance from his father.

Mintz: I only met Jack Cassidy
once or twice.

He looked like an 8x10 glossy,

and he had very high
expectations of his young son.

His father would cut him down

because of his own ego.

He would really say
cruel things to him.

It was, "Oh, well,
you're just a teenybopper star."

He said, "Son, why don't you
come -- we'll go to Broadway

and do somereal
and somereal

Well, it sounds like
an invitation

until you dig,
and it's just mean.

David told me bluntly,

"My father could not accept
the success I had so quickly."

Moses: His father was
very narcissistic.

He was so jealous of David.

David Cassidy loved his father.

He always wanted
his father's approval.

And he never got that.

Halperin: Anybody who knew David
would say the result

of all his depression,
drugs, alcohol

was because
he never felt properly loved,

appreciated by his father,
Jack Cassidy.

It haunted him forever.

It looked like a scene
from Vietnam or something.

All these girls
either unconscious

or lying there crying.

He viewed himself as being
partially responsible

for her death.

It's a heavy burden to have
on your shoulders, isn't it?

I think I got pigeonholed into
being considered something of,

I don't know, pretty face,
no talent, or whatever it is --

the syndrome of carrying
that Albatross

of an idol around with me --

that I became too famous
to be cast

as a legitimate,
serious actor, which I was.

Moret: David Cassidy was offered
a cover of the "Rolling Stone."

Being on the cover
of "Rolling Stone"

was the Holy Grail
for any rock star,

and this is during
"The Partridge Family."

He saw this as a way
to break free.

He wanted to leave
the Keith Partridge image

and become
this rock 'n' roll singer,

who he really was inside.

David was photographed
by Annie Leibovitz,

black and white,

and you can tell
that he was naked.

He was shirtless
and very provocative.

The article was even more so.

I was asked to write the article
on David Cassidy

and follow him on his tour.

It was five days.

They gave me complete access.

We went out at night
and we hung out,

you know, in his hotel room
and smoked dope,

and he picked up a girl there.

So he allowed me, like,
way too much access.

Moret: The producers of the show
didn't know about it.

The management team
didn't know about it.

Nobody knew about it.

Green: He portrayed himself
tragically as pained.

He didn't want to do
"The Partridge Family" anymore.

He didn't want to be
a manufactured teen idol.

He wanted to be, I guess,
a star but arock

This was a shock-and-awe
move by David Cassidy

to say, "This is me.
Take it or leave it.

I'm breaking free."

Green: He thought that he could

manipulate his image
in the press

because the press had made him
in the first place.

Other rock stars appeared naked
on the cover of "Rolling Stone,"

so in and of itself,

it wasn't a terrible thing
to do.

The upshot of it was his fans
were outraged.

He turned off people
who loved him,

and he turned off the people who
didn't love him to begin with.

That cover haunted him
the rest of his life.

Green:
I stand behind the article.

I think it's a very honest
portrayal of his situation,

but I never thought about
the damage it might do.

Moses: He just retreated
inside himself and hid out,

and you can't have a teen idol
if there's no access.

He disappeared from the pages

because there was nothing left
to write about.

I had heard that the reason
we were canceled

is David didn't want
to do it anymore.

Turns out not to be the case.

Cassidy: It was a good
experience while it lasted,

but it was very confining
for me and very --

I felt very stifled.

I don't think anyone
wants to do anything

that really isn't exciting

and they can't grow in,
and I couldn't grow.

David was happy to put
Keith Partridge behind him.

He was happy when
"The Partridge Family" ended,

and he embarked
on this world tour,

but then in England,

there was tragedy
at one of his concerts.

[ Audience shouting ]

Myskow: I arrived.
It was a lovely sunny day.

Crowds and crowds of people.

Lots of very excited
young girls.

And the show started,
and as he came out,

everybody just
kind of rushed forward --

these teenage girls desperate,
hormonal, whatever --

to get to him.
And then as he sang,

they were pushing,
pushing, and pushing.

And, of course,
the ones at the front,

who thought they were lucky to
be at the front, were not lucky

to be in front 'cause they were
the ones who were being...

squashed.

They were just pulling up,
over the stage,

these little girls.

Bodies coming up.

Diltz: It looked like a scene
from Vietnam or something.

All these stretchers laid out
and these girls

either unconscious
or lying there crying.

It was horrible.

And then sadly,
one of the little girls,

Bernadette Whelan, died.

I mean, that was just...
awful.

Cassidy:
She wasn't in the front.

She was on the sides,

and I think just from
the excitement of it all,

so I've been told,

she just had,
I think, a heart attack.

He immediately contacted
the family.

He expressed his condolences.

He viewed himself as being
partially responsible

for her death.

That's a heavy burden
to have on your shoulders.

Parsons:
Then, in 1974, "People" ran a
cover story with David Cassidy.

The big news was this huge
teen idol,

heartthrob,
massive, iconic character,

was taking a step away
from the spotlight.

It was taking a toll on him
and he decided

it was time to take a step back.

David wants to get out
of the limelight completely,

so he moves to Hawaii,

and he decides that he wants
to work on a book

that he describes as edgy

and completely raw.

Mintz: We go to Hawaii.

We take long walks
along a beach.

I'd carry that little Sony
tape recorder,

and David talked to me
for 17 or 18 hours on tape.

I felt more like a therapist
than a journalist

or an interviewer.

And at night, we would drink,

and it was at that time
that I really began to see

the extraordinary anguish
and isolation

that he was going through.

It was clear to me that David
had a dependency problem

on drugs and alcohol.

I turned to drugs and alcohol

in the darkest period
of my life

after I'd retired from
"The Partridge Family."

By that time, David Cassidy

was estranged from his father,
Jack Cassidy.

Parsons: Jack Cassidy had
his own challenges.

He battled bipolar disorder.

He was also an alcoholic.

Myskow: When I interviewed David
for my BBC Radio 2 documentary,

I knew that he'd had problems
with his father,

that his father resented
his success and was jealous.

Cassidy: I finally said to
him, "Jack, you're really
not handling this,"

and it was the night
up at my managers'

that he had a couple drinks

and he started
breaking furniture

and screaming at me,
and I just walked out.

It was the last time we actually
spent any time together.

It was really sad.

Myskow:
And then nine months later,

his father died tragically.

Moret: Jack Cassidy was alone
in an apartment.

He was drunk,

and he had lit
a cigarette and fell asleep,

and he died
in a horrible fire.

I was with David when the news
came in,

and he was very,
very distraught.

Moret: David said
in an interview later,

"I never got to tell my father
how much I loved him."

That relationship with him
was never, ever resolved,

and it was never healed,
for me or for him.

Everything around David
was so sad.

I kept observing this increased
sense of loneliness and despair.

Shortly after my dad died,
my manager died.

I went through two
very unsuccessful

and very unhappy marriages.

Diltz: My wife and I introduced
him to Kay Lenz.

Now, that was his first wife.

Kay Lenz was a very accomplished
actress at the time.

Diltz: They got married and had
a good time for a while,

but they both had their careers,

and I think that's
a little, show biz,

when you both have a career.

I was into a very serious
self-destruct mode.

Myskow: The first two marriages
were not right.

His problem -- well, what
he told me, and I believe him --

came from the relationship
with his father --

the very bad relationship --

and that he was always
searching for approval,

but I don't think
he could ever be content.

I was quite surprised to find
out that David Cassidy

had some sort of secret life.

How'd he keep this all secret?

Welcome back.

Devastated by the death
of his father

and a young fan
at one of his concerts,

David Cassidy retires
from show business

and disappears
from the public eye.

But in the late 1980s,
he makes a comeback.

David releases new albums

and in 1991,
embarks on a concert tour,

reuniting with his former
TV brother,

Danny Bonaduce.

The moment
you've been waiting for.

David Cassidy!

[ Cheering ]

We love the comeback, right?

Moses:
His life got so much better

and all kinds
of good things happened.

The '90s --
I say this all the time --

has been a far more fruitful,
successful, enjoyable,

happy decade for me
than the '70s were.

Camerota: David reconnected with
an old flame named Sue Shifrin,

and they fell in love
and they had a son named Beau,

and they marry in 1991.

Moses: And the way he and Sue
got together, it seemed,

"Oh, boy, this is all just
fitting into place."

She married, in many ways,
a broken man but she loved him.

Moses:
He says in his autobiography,

"Everything changed
the day Beau was born."

Myskow:
He seemed to adore Beau.

On the surface of it,

that structure of him
and Sue and Beau,

that gave him
that sense of completeness.

And then he went to New York
to do a Broadway show.

♪ Sunday afternoon ♪

"Blood brothers"
is a famous Broadway play.

♪ Try to remember jokes I knew ♪

And the play had never sold out

until David Cassidy
took the lead.

It's the finest role
I've ever had

and probably the best piece
of work I've ever done.

It gave me a whole, new life

in terms of my acting career.

In August of 1996,

the MGM Grand
makes a deal with David

to become the lead
in their EFX show,

and a month later,
David and his wife and his son

have a new home --

Las Vegas, Nevada.

Boggs: How many people could go
into something like EFX

in this giant theater
at the MGM Grand

and fill that night
after night after night?

He reinvented himself

in the public's eye.

He did very, very well,

but not enough
to make him happy.

Sadly, I don't think.

Halperin:
Vegas took its toll on David

and took its toll
on his family life.

He did eight shows a week,
and he said,

"That was grueling."

Halperin: He sort of became
a modern-day Jack Cassidy --

not intentionally.

But he was never around because
he was always working.

Sue doesn't like Vegas,
and Beau doesn't like Vegas.

Halperin:
And his family life deteriorated

and was in jeopardy.

Camerota: In his 2007 book,

David said that after
10 lucrative

but workaholic years
on the strip,

he knew that he had to either
leave Las Vegas

or lose his family.

Halperin: That's when he decided
to move to Fort Lauderdale.

He really didn't want to be
Jack Cassidy of his era.

He said, you know, "My father
was never there for me,

and I will always
be there for Beau."

Once David and his family
are settled in Florida,

he starts touring again.

Because David Cassidy
was a showman.

He loved being on stage.

My dear friend, Mr. Craig J.
on keyboards and vocal.

He loved performing.
He loved to get up on stage.

You better strap
your seatbelts on.

It's gonna be some kind of ride.

We were a musical family 100%,

and there was just
a great chemistry.

But we had some really,really
beautiful moments on stage.

Moret: He was happiest on stage,
but he had addictions,

and they got in the way
of being happy as a person.

Carnes: It was so tragic,

The turn his life took
is just horrible.

Yep, okay, you're being
arrested for DUI, sir.

Former child TV star
David Cassidy

is out on bond this noon

after being busted
for DUI last night.

2010 was the first time

that the public became aware
of his drinking problem.

Halperin: David was caught
on the dashboard cam.

He was clearly inebriated.

You never listened to me.
I was --

You're gonna take --
Listen to me!

I was quite surprised.

How did he keep this
all a secret?

He was drunk,
and he was over the limits,

and the test
clearly showed that.

Alright, keep going.
How far?

Till I tell you to stop.
Oh, I'm sorry.

He seemed so tragically flawed.

People started asking
a lot of questions

about his emotional states.

I'm not impaired,
and if you think I am,

I'd like to prove it to you
that I'm not.

You just did
prove it to me.

He tried to misdirect by saying
he only took Vicodin.

Moret: He lied. They found
a half bottle of alcohol

in the car open.

Halperin: David was convicted
of the DUI charge.

Mintz:
The mug shot broke my heart.

Sometimes you look
at the mug shot

and you really see
a person's soul,

and I knew it was
the beginning of the end.

Bilinski: We would be at dinner,

and sometimes
he would leave the table

and then come back.

We always were wondering
what that meant.

He hid it really well.

I had no idea.
Just had no idea.

-Let's go, sir.
-It's good.

Bonaduce: When he got the DUI
I just said,

"How is this even happening?"

The guy I've never seen
have a drink.

David was convicted
of the DUI charge.

It was an extremely rough time
for him,

and I think that further put him
into a deeper depression.

I think he maybe thought

that he was going to conquer
his demons,

but there was something
inside him that wasn't right.

In 2013,

David was stopped again

for drunk driving.

Reporter: David Cassidy facing
drunk-driving charges.

According to police,
the 63-year-old was arrested

in upstate New York
just after midnight.

He had flown in,

probably been having
something to drink

on the airplane,

and when he got
into his rental car,

the police stopped him.

He was given a breathalyzer.

He was way over the limit.

He did a plea deal

where he'd plead guilty
and they'd give him

a lesser penalty.

He had no choice.
-When he got he first DUI,

I just said, "I'm here for you.
Don't worry about it."

When he got the second,
I was mad.

Halperin: To everyone
who knew David now,

they saw the writing
on the wall.

They knew this guy was headed to

really dark, dark times,

and there was no stopping it.

Snider: He hid it really well.

I had no idea.
Just had no idea.

In 2014, David again was stopped
in Los Angeles.

He was two times
over the legal limit,

and once again, David Cassidy's
in trouble with the law.

He pled no contest.

I mean, what can he do?

He's already been convicted
two prior occasions.

There's a sadness
in the very fact

that he went so far
out of control

on his own, you know.

It may have been partially
genetic.

There was a history of alcohol
in David's family.

His father, Jack,
was a big alcoholic.

Alcohol took over his life.

We would be at dinner,

and sometimes he would
leave the table

and then come back.

I think he was more
of a closet drinker,

where he would drink
when he's by himself.

Halperin:
David Cassidy's life after the
third incident in Los Angeles

was just going from dark
to very dark.

She had had enough.

She didn't think it was
a good environment for her

or her son,
and that was it.

The marriage ended.

Bilinski: Sue was a loving wife.

Sue was trying to help him.

It was difficult for David
to operate in the marriage

because he had his demons.

The only true thing I think
that ever happened in his life

was the marriage to Sue
and his son,

and he lost it.

Oh, there's no question.
At some point,

David Cassidy became an addict.

David Cassidy had three DUI
arrests in five years.

He was truly, deeply struggling
with alcoholism.

Cassidy: I have been in rehab,

with the exception
of about 10 days,

over the last --
over three months now,

and I'm gonna stay
as long as it takes,

knowing I was not
making any headway

and was getting worse in terms
of my relationship with my wife.

We spent 26 years together

and have a magnificent son,

and it kind of all turned
into hell.

Why?

I had DUIs.

I got -- I was --

I have a problem
with alcohol.

Finally an acknowledgment.
"I have a problem."

His family believed
that he was making progress,

that he was on the wagon,
that he was in a good place

in terms of keeping
his alcoholism under control.

If I take another drink,

I'm going to die.

He slurred his words, sounded
and appeared as if he was drunk.

Knowing and...

Maybe itwas

After, I was like, "Oh, my God."

Woman:
Oh, my God, David!

Morgan: David Cassidy knows what
it's like to be a heartthrob,

adored by teenage girls
everywhere

and also what it's like
to see your mug shot

plastered all over the news
and to go to rehab.

When David Cassidy spoke
with Piers Morgan,

he was very honest --
shockingly honest --

about the dire situation
he was in.

If I take another drink,

I'm going to die --

physically, mentally,
emotionally,

spiritually, I'm dead.

Moret: Very rarely do you see
an interview like that,

where there's stream
of consciousness

and the person is talking
to the interviewer

as if nobody else is listening,
and we're all listening.

Do you now accept
that you're an alcoholic?

Have you come to terms
with that?

Is that how
you see yourself?

Yes, I am most definitely
an alcoholic.

I'm as flawed as any alcoholic

or drug addict or any addict.

Up until a little
over two months ago,

I had been lying to myself,

and, consequently, lying
to everyone about my disease.

You feel like you got a chance
to try and --

I not only have a chance.
I am there.

You know, no one can believe me,
no one --

and I don't expect them to.

Hello, Los Angeles.

How are you, baby?

Halperin:
In Agoura, California, in 2017,

it was probably one of
the worst visions or scenes

anybody could imagine
for a pop legend on stage.

It's so meaningful to me.
[ Interference squeaks ]

I don't know
what I did, but, um...

While on stage,
he was forgetting the lyrics

to some of these songs that
he had been singing for decades.

♪ Girl I ever had ♪

[ Inaudible ]
♪ Na, na-na-na, na-na-na ♪

He slurred his words.

It sounded and appeared
as if he was drunk.

We learned from recording
and knowing and...

singing.

And then, at one point,

he literally falls off
the stage,

and that was captured on TMZ.

I didn't even know that he had
fallen off the stage,

and I didn't even see it happen

until someone played it
for me after.

I was like, "Oh, my God."

Everyone thought he's fallen
off the wagon again.

Parsons: It was all on video.
It made a lot of headlines.

It seemed that this was
an alcohol-related issue.

Then, shortly after that
incident at the concert,

David Cassidy came
to "People" magazine

to reveal he had been diagnosed
with early stage dementia.

He blamed the gaffes on stage --
forgetting the lyrics,

falling --
he blamed it on that diagnosis.

Moret: David Cassidy said
this ran in his family,

but with the help
of his family and his fans,

he would get through it,

and he really appreciated
people's support,

but he didn't want them
to think that he was drunk.

He was saying,
"It's the dementia.

I'm forgetting some of
the words, and no big deal."

And he even went on
"Dr. Phil."

What was the first symptom
that you noticed?

When friends of yours
or family members

begin to say to you,

"Remember? I just told you
this two days ago."

And there's no memory
of it.

David Cassidy had watched
his grandfather battle dementia.

He had also, in an even
more personal way,

watched his mother,
Evelyn, as he put it,

"disappear" into dementia.

It was something that he said
he always sort of sensed.

There was a part of him
that knew

that dementia
was something he would battle.

He was getting huge acceptance
and love,

all different kinds of love,

from his fans,
from his close friends.

He wanted to maintain
a brave face,

and he didn't want to have
pity parties thrown at him.

We would talk about it,
and I would say to him,

"You can dwell on it.
It's not gonna change anything.

So, where do you want
to go from here?"

And that's what I would ask him,
and that's when we started

working on the
"Songs My Father Taught Me,"

which he'd been talking about
for a couple of years.

He's recording this album
that has so much meaning to him.

Mintz: A homage to his father,
where he sang the classics

the way Jack Cassidy
would've approved.

Now, that tells you something.

The making of that album
was memorialized

in this A&E documentary
called "The Last Session."

This is the worst I've ever
felt in 67 years.

I'm in agony.

Moret: The A&E documentary
was very disturbing,

because when you'd see him
talking,

you thought, "He's not talking
like a 65-year-old man.

He sounds like
a 97-year-old man."

Everything seemed
tragically old and damaged.

Then the music and the
documentary were abruptly halted

when David was suddenly
hospitalized in Chicago.

In hindsight, you always go,

"God, how did I miss
how sick he was?"

But, you know,
there was so much going on

to try and pull this off,

and he was insistent
that he wanted to record

and he wanted to do it.

Hello?

How are you?
I'm so glad
to hear your voice.

How are you?

And in that A&E documentary,
there was a shocking revelation.

When David made the call to A&E,
he basically came clean,

and he'd used dementia
as an excuse.

Because he thought that
would cover up

what was really going on.

Camerota: He was numbing his
emotional pain with alcohol,

and he was dishonest with his
family about his alcohol use.

It was alcohol that had
done this to him.

[ Siren wailing ]

On November 15th, David's
admitted to a Florida hospital.

He's in the hospital
with organ failure.

And the doctors are not hopeful.

They don't think David's
gonna pull out of this.

Just too much complications,
and it doesn't look good.

David Cassidy has been
hospitalized

in critical condition
with organ failure.

His publicist says
that he's surrounded

by family and friends.

He was in a medically
induced coma.

He needed a transplant because
alcohol had taken a toll

on his body.

Snider: I got a call
from his son, Beau.

Beau called me and said,
"No, he's really sick.

You should come."
So I did.

And then he just
took a nosedive.

With whatever strength he had
in that final breath,

he said,
"So much wasted time."

It's an object lesson
for all of us.

And then, you know, we lost him.

He died during the creation
of that album.

It was the last thing
that David Cassidy did on Earth.

It was that delayed respect
and showing of love for his dad.

It's almost Shakespearean.

We have some sad breaking news
for you tonight --

the death of '70s
teen idol David Cassidy.

The singer died today after
he was hospitalized

last week in Florida.

I was in Rome, Italy,
when I got the news.

Some stranger walks up to me
and he goes,

"I'm terribly sorry
about your loss."

And I said, "What are
you talking about?"

He said, "David Cassidy
just passed away."

He was just such a big star,

and they don't make stars
like that anymore,

and I think they should.

Diltz: I can't really
psychoanalyze David,

but I do know that
his childhood years

somehow set him up for a life

that kind of was not satisfying
to him in some way.

From a young age,
he was scarred,

and those scars
really never healed.

They would stay with him
the rest of his life.

When I talk to friends
and they ask me about David,

I just want them to know the
wonderful person that we knew

and how much he wanted to make
a difference with his music.

Good or bad, the world
was a more interesting place

with David Cassidy,
and, in my world,

more interesting is better.

I felt a terrific pressure
trying to live up

to this reputation
that David Cassidy,

who had millions of people
that idolized him

and this hero worship
was so great,

I couldn't sustain
it any longer.

I couldn't live with feeling
unworthy of it,

and I guess a sense
that somehow or another,

I wasn't good enough.
I wasn't enough.

David Cassidy made millions
of people happy

with his music and performances.

But as it turns out,

the one person he couldn't
make happy

was David Cassidy.

At the end of his life,

David was surrounded
by friends and family.

Among them was a daughter
that he had in 1986

from a brief relationship.

Her name was Katie.

They'd been estranged
for many years.

He uttered his last words
to all.

"So much wasted time."

Perhaps there's a lesson
here for all of us.

Thanks for watching.

Good night.