Partridge Family star David Cassidy hospitalised with organ failure

The former Partridge Family star and pop singer David Cassidy has been hospitalised in Florida with multiple organ failure.

Publicist JoAnn Geffen told The Associated Press that Cassidy is in a Fort Lauderdale-area hospital with liver and kidney failure. She says he’s in a private room, conscious and surrounded by family. Geffen says there is nothing "imminent" about his condition, and doctors are hoping to "keep him as well as they can until they can find another liver."

He was taken to the hospital in pain on Wednesday.

David Cassidy in 1974 - Credit: Hulton 
David Cassidy in 1974 Credit: Hulton

The 67-year-old former teen idol, who lives in Florida, said earlier this year that he was struggling with dementia and that he was ending his 50-year career – a condition that his mother, the actress Evelyn Ward, also suffered from. Cassidy has had numerous personal problems in the decades following his initial success, ranging from substance abuse to bankruptcy.

Cassidy is the stepson of actress and fellow "Partridge Family" star Shirley Jones. He became famous when he starred as Keith Partridge in the Seventies sitcom about a mother and five children who form a rock 'n' band. He went on to have a successful music career, releasing hits such as Daydreamer and Could it Be Forever.

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His half-brother Shaun Cassidy, also a former actor and singer and now a TV producer, tweeted Wednesday afternoon, "Thank you for all your love and good wishes for David. It means the world to all of us."

David Cassidy has two children, the 30-year-old Arrow actress Katie Cassidy and 26-year-old Beau Cassidy. David was married to Beau's mother Sue Shifrin from 1991 to 2014. According to reports, he has been estranged from Katie, who was born after he had a brief romance with her mother Sherry Williams Benedon, and was not involved in her upbringing. She has, however, left a fan event in Atlanta to be with her father in hospital, according to Digital Spy.