"The Partridge Family" was a TV hit that also topped the charts with hits like "I Think I Love You" — but the family-band sitcom also spawned plenty of scandals after its run in the '70s, with the cast providing plenty of shocking secrets...
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DAVID CASSIDY enjoyed fame twice with "The Partridge Family" — first being a massive teen idol in America, and then finding new fame in Europe after the canceled show began to play in the UK. But a planned retirement went wrong when a 14-year-old girl was fatally crushed at one of his final overseas shows. Then he found himself broke after
a series of bad investments by his financial advisors.
Despite a series of minor comebacks, David would keep struggling with financial problems throughout his life. He also endured a series of
embarrassing DUI charges. David
finally went public with his diagnosis of early dementia after a series of disastrous concert appearances had fans fearing the worst about his drinking problem — and he passed away on Nov. 21, 2017, after farewell shows earlier in the year.
SHIRLEY JONES was the show's veteran star — and was trying to keep up sexually with David's notoriously sex-crazed father, Jack Cassidy. She later recalled how Jack "would pick me up from the studio in the car, then drive us into the garage adjacent to our house" for steamy romps. But the marriage didn't survive the series — partly because Shirley wasn't crazy about threesomes.
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She recalled Jack's disappointment when Shirley declined to strip down for one orgy in a suggested Hollywood "kinky movie night." Sadly, Jack couldn't last long without Shirley watching out for him. He would die in a fire at his Los Angeles home in 1976, after passing out with a lit cigarette.
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SUSAN DEY hated her star-making role as Laurie Partridge — complaining that "it was like the same thing over and over." She also wasn't happy with her onscreen big brother: “After he got to be a rock star, he just didn’t care...we all tried to carry him.” But then she rushed to shake up her image with a sex scene in the 1977 romance "First Love" that pushed the boundaries of the "R" rating!
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Susan then returned to the small screen for "L.A. Law" — but quickly walked away from her second attempt at a hit series. "Love & War" paired her with actor Jay Thomas, and the resulting lack of chemistry had CBS executives eager to fire her from the show. Susan didn't mind being replaced by Annie Potts, though, revealing
she was still battling anorexia after years in show business!
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DAVE MADDEN often stole the show as anxious music manager Reuben Kincaid — but the beloved character actor ended up being a bad influence. He ended up bonding with constant foil Danny Bonaduce. Sadly, Dave, who'd pass away in 2014, was a little too permissive. “Dave loved to smoke,” said an insider. “and he used to give cigarettes to Danny” — who'd move on to more adult addictions!
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DANNY BONADUCE spent years as a tragic former child star — indulging his early fame on the "Partridge Family" set. He even lost his virginity at the age of 13 to a fan who'd visited the set to see David Cassidy. Danny even tried putting the make on a then 10-year-old Jodie Foster! But after the show ended its run in 1974, Danny burned through all the money he made on the series. "I got heavily into drugs," he admitted, "and was arrested trying to score some coke. I felt totally suicidal"
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An admitted alcoholic, Danny was also arrested for beating up a transvestite prostitute in 1991. Danny finally found his calling as a radio disc jockey, however. After starting out as "Danny Partridge," he's now worked for decades as an on-air personality under his own name. He's been hosting a morning show in Seattle, Wash., since 2011.
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SUZANNE CROUGH shocked fans
with her early death at the age of 52. The redhead who found fame playing tambourine-wielding Tracy on the show passed away suddenly on April 27, 2015, at her home in Laughlin, Nev. An autopsy revealed a rare heart condition. But she'd gone on to a fulfilling life away from the stage — owning a bookstore and raising a family with her highway patrol officer husband.
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