Shaun Cassidy: Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy ‘Weren’t Around’ While He Was Growing Up
The Cassidy family, which included ’70s teen icons David Cassidy and Shaun Cassidy, as well as actor Jack Cassidy and Partridge Familystar Shirley Jones, was complicated. And, as Shaun explained in a recent interview with PEOPLE, his feelings about his tumultuous relationship with his late father Jack Cassidy, who passed away in an 1976 apartment fire when he was just 49 years old, have continued after the older Cassidy’s death. Shaun was still young when his father died and despite following in his father’s footsteps to a career in entertainment, the two didn’t always see eye to eye. In fact, Shaun went as far as to call his father a bit of a “phony.”
Shaun Cassidy says Jack Cassidy was not a good father
He explained to PEOPLE, “My dad was so complicated. He basically invented this public persona with an accent that didn’t exist in any country ever.” He continued, “Patrick and Ryan and I would be like, ‘What is up with this dude?’ I mean, it seemed so phony to us, and that wasn’t like who he was. I’m not sure he ever really figured out who he was. He was not a good father — and I don’t say that with disrespect. I just say it with objectivity. And yet I wouldn’t have traded him for the world. I got so many gifts from him, so many.”
Don Ornitz/TV Guide/Everett Collection
As Shaun was growing up, he admitted that he quickly figured out that his parents cared more about their public perception than their family at times. He shared, “Who they really are is not how they’re perceived by the public anyway. The public has an idea of who they are. If you grow up in a family of show folk, everything is very presentational. I talked to my brothers about this the other day. I had very, very few photographs of our family just sitting around the living room. Almost all the pictures I have were taken by professional photographers, often for magazines.”
While he missed out on having parents that went to Little League games and had lots of family fun times, he is still proud of his family. Shaun added that he believes his mother, Shirley Jones, took the role in The Partridge Family in an effort to say closer to home. Shaun said at the time he made friends with other Hollywood star’s kids, including the late Carrie Fisher.
He said,”I have a whole friend group, kids, we were like Peanuts. The parents weren’t around. And yet all of us had similar backgrounds. I mean, Carrie Fisher was two doors down, and she was a good pal of mine. We all got through it with challenges, for sure. We not only survived but thrived, and I think we looked after each other.”
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