Shaun Cassidy Gets Candid About His Complicated Relationship With David Cassidy
In the ’70s, the Cassidy brothers were on top of the world. David Cassidy became a household name as the heartthrob lead of The Partridge Family, with hit songs dominating the radio and a TV show that made him the apple of every schoolgirl’s eye. His younger half-brother, Shaun, soon followed suit, shooting to fame as one half of The Hardy Boys and topping the charts with bubblegum pop hits like “Da Doo Ron Ron.”
However, early success often comes with pitfalls, as both brothers faced the pressures of instant stardom, relentless fan attention, and the struggle to balance fame with a normal life. Those challenges would ultimately shape their complicated relationship and leave lasting impacts that Shaun still reflects on today.
In a September 2025 interview with The Los Angeles Times, Shaun reflected on his relationship with his older brother nearly eight years after the Partridge Family star died of organ failure at age 67.
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“My brother David didn’t handle fame well,” said the former teen idol. “David never gave me advice. I think it was very difficult for him because he was at a career low point. I would ask him, ‘What do you think of this?’ and I could tell he was conflicted about it.”
“It wasn’t that he didn’t want me to have success,” Shaun continued. “But he was in a place where it was hard for him to enjoy my success, I think. And I knew that, so I didn’t talk to him about it.”
“All I know is he complained a lot in the press,” Shaun said. “He had a chip on his shoulder because he wasn’t Eric Clapton or Jimi Hendrix or somebody that he revered. It’s like, OK, play as well as Hendrix, and maybe you’ll be Hendrix. But you’re a really charming guy on a big hit television show, and 8 billion people are in love with you. Tell me why this is a bad deal?”
In the interview, Shaun also revealed that the two brothers were on the outs briefly. During this time, David attempted to shed his goodie-two-shoes image as a teen idol by posing nude for an Annie Leibovitz photo shoot in Rolling Stone magazine in 1972. “I thought it was dumb,” Shaun said. “I thought, ‘You’re putting a bullet in something here, whether you know it or not.’”
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While on the Sibling Revelry podcast, Shaun explained that the sudden death of their father, Jack, in 1976 brought the two of them closer together.
“I mean, our father died when I was 18, Patrick was 14, Ryan was ten, and my older brother David, we were estranged, which was rough, but in a strange way, his loss bonded us,” he said. “I literally remember the day he died, the four of us hugging and crying and sort of forging this, like, ‘he will live in us.’ It wasn’t said, but that was the feeling, and it’s been an actual experience. We are now all well, David has passed, but Patrick, Ryan and I are all older than my dad was when he died. We see each other and see our father.”
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In the interview, Shaun lamented the loss of his brother David by remembering his softer side, “My brother was a really sweet — I’m gonna get choked up talking about him — he was a really sweet soul who got hurt and couldn’t overcome that.”
When his brother died, Shaun took to social media to post a tribute to David.
When I was a little boy and my big brother would come to visit, the first call of business would be a punishing pillow fight. During the battle, he would regale me with hysterical stories of our father, often culminating in his taking a giant leap off my top bunk…
— Shaun Cassidy (@Shaunpcassidy) November 22, 2017
“When I was a little boy and my big brother would come to visit, the first call of business would be a punishing pillow fight. During the battle, he would regale me with hysterical stories of our father, often culminating in his taking a giant leap off my top bunk. I tried to catch him of course. I always tried to catch him. But I never could. Now, I will carry him, along with all of the funny/sad/extraordinary days we shared, none more filled with love than these last few at his side.”
…I tried to catch him of course. I always tried to catch him. But I never could. Now, I will carry him, along with all of the funny/sad/extraordinary days we shared, none more filled with love than these last few at his side. pic.twitter.com/nc4w9HdTLC
— Shaun Cassidy (@Shaunpcassidy) November 22, 2017
In the interview, Shaun admitted: “That’s one of the things I miss most about him: that he was the only person in the world I could talk to about our experience.”
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