Actress Katie Cassidy took to Twitter Friday to share her father David Cassidy’s last words. The actress penned a heartfelt tweet with a lesson she’s trying to take from them as she deals with her grief.
Actor and singer David Cassidy died earlier this week, after being hospitalized with organ failure. He’s survived by his daughter Katie, son Beau, and his half-brother Shaun Jones.
Cassidy’s haunting words
Former actor and singer David Cassidy rose to fame in the early 1970s, starring as shaggy-haired guitarist Keith Partridge on the musical sitcom ‘The Partridge Family.’ He died Nov. 21 at a hospital near Fort Lauderdale, Fla., due to organ failure at the time of his death. He was 67.
“David died surrounded by those he loved, with joy in his heart and free from the pain that had gripped him for so long. Thank you for the abundance and support you have shown him these many years,” a statement from his family said.
Following his death, his daughter, actress Katie Cassidy, penned a heartfelt post on Twitter where she revealed her dad’s final words, “So much time wasted.” According to the actress, her dad’s words will serve as a daily reminder to her to always tell the people she loves how she truly feels about them.
“Never waste another minute,” she concluded. Cassidy also took the time to thanks her friends and fans that have shown her love and support throughout the difficult time in her life.
David’s shaky health
David died on Tuesday, Nov. 21, after being in a coma for a few days, while he managed to get out of it he remained in a critical stable condition.Doctors wanted him to keep him stable until he finds a liver that they could use for the transplant. Unfortunately, the actor already died.
The root of Cassidy’s liver failure was no mystery, he had spoken publicly in recent years about his alcoholism and went to rehab in 2014 after a series of DUI arrests. Last February, he revealed he’d bee battling with dementia since 2015, following concerts where he struggled to remember words to songs he had been singing for five decades.
At that time, Cassidy said he was going to stop touring.
“I want to focus on what I am, who I am and how I’ve been without any distractions,” he said. I want to love. I want to enjoy life.”
Cassidy and his stepmother, Shirley Jones, were stars of ‘The Partridge Family,’ a sitcom about a widow and her children who form a band. His father was actor Jack Cassidy, to whom Jones was married for about 18 years. Following David’s death, Jones released a statement remembering David.
“As a little boy, his sweet sensitivity and wicked sense of humor were already on display, and I will treasure the years we spent working and growing together,” she said.
“Long before he played my son on ‘The Partridge Family,’ David Cassidy was my stepson in real life,” Jones noted. “I will also find solace knowing that David is now with his dad.”
The stranded relationship between Katie and her dad
According to reports, Katie Cassidy and her dad had a very complicated relationship. While Katie alum grew up with her mom, Sherry Williams, and her stepdad, Richard Benedon. But David still played a role in her life. In 2009, in a joint interview, David said to people that he never had to parent Cassidy because he wasn’t the one that raised her.
“I’m always here and totally nonjudgmental,” he said. Which was seconded by Katie, who said.
“To be able to go to someone I’m genetically linked to, tell them anything and know that they’re not going to judge me – it’s unbelievable. It’s nice when your dad can be your friend.”
Unfortunately, the Cassidys didn’t stay in contact with each other. Earlier this year, David revealed that he and his actress daughter had drifted apart and that he had little involvement in her childhood.
“I wasn’t her father. I was her biological father but I didn’t raise her. She has a completely different life, ” he said. However, the actor admitted being proud of her.
“But I’m proud of her. She’s very talented. It’s hard for me to even accept how old she is now,” he said.
While Katie and David had a stranded relationship, the actor and musician had said that he had a different relationship with his son, Beau. “He’s just one of the best people you’ll ever meet in your life and it’s that that I’m proud of,” Cassidy said at the time.
David also revealed he had been battling dementia since 2015, and talked about how Beau tried to help him through it. “He knows that I’m just a little off,” Cassidy said. “Sometimes he cocks his head at me a little bit and goes, ‘Dad do you remember?’”
“And I say, ‘No, I know I do, I remember.’ He’ll give me reminders once in a while.”
Source: Time