Danny Bonaduce is candid about his mysterious illness†
In May, the former ‘Partridge Family’ child star shared a Facebook post written by his sister Celia Bonaduce announcing the actor is tackling a health issue.
On Monday, the 62-year-old shared more insight into his ongoing health journey. He told “Good Morning America” that it all started in April when his wife Amy first noticed his speech was wrong. His symptoms escalated.
“I couldn’t walk at all,” Bonaduce recalls. “I couldn’t do something like that. She looked very nervous. And she said, ‘You don’t say any words, you don’t speak English’, which of course is ridiculous to me.”
“We call an ambulance and… [it] took me to the hospital where I stayed for the first five days and remember very little about it,” he said.
Determined to find out what was going on, Bonaduce took medical leave from his Seattle radio show. According to the newspaper, he was hospitalized and tested, but doctors never got any conclusive answers. Bonaduce said to rule out a stroke.
“I couldn’t walk,” he said. “I couldn’t keep my balance. I slurped a lot. I was afraid of everything. I was afraid of my stairs – I hoped for a diagnosis, but I didn’t get one.”
The outlet shared that Bonaduce was back at work after two months. He has been featured on “The Danny Bonaduce & Sarah Morning Show” on Seattle radio station KZOK since 2011. He is now hopeful that his experience will encourage others to pay attention to their health.
“There was nothing that said this would happen,” he warned. “Take time to think about your health and what you’re doing. Pay attention.”
On Sunday, Bonaduce took to social media and announced that he will be back on radio Monday.
“Can’t wait,” he captioned a photo of himself at the microphone. “My brain is still a little fuzzy, but that’s never stopped me — or the people who hire me.”
In late May, Bonaduce wrote on social media that his symptoms were improving.
Bonaduce became famous as wisecracking Danny Partridge in “The Partridge Family”, which aired from 1970 to 1974. The series, which chronicles the humorous adventures of a musical family, starring Shirley Jones, David Cassidy and Susan Dey.
Following the show’s success, Bonaduce struggled with substance abuse. He’s sober now.
In 2017, he wrote about Cassidy, who died that year at age 67 from organ failure related to alcoholism.
“David Cassidy was a god to me,” Bonaduce shared in a column for The Hollywood Reporter about his deceased opponent† “We weren’t close when we did ‘The Partridge Family’ – I was 10 years old; he was 20 – but to me he was like Elvis Presley, right down to the jumpsuit and the arenas full of fans.”
According to Bonaduce, Cassidy reached out to him 20 years later and offered to help when he was struggling with addiction. He explained that Cassidy invited him to tour under the clause “no drugs, no alcohol, no smoking and no women.” Cassidy insisted it would get better.
“They offered me more money than I had ever seen in my life: $75,000 a year,” Bonaduce recalls. “David told me the tour would give me a career, and it did.”
“But when it came to his own career, David was robbed,” Bonaduce thought. “When he decided he didn’t want to be Keith Partridge anymore, he quit ‘The Partridge Family’. He wanted to tour and become a real rock ‘n’ roll star. But the path he chose after the show went down. not that far. He became the theme song of ‘Partridge Family’, he became the like you look like David Cassidy, with the same thousand fans who come to every show.”
“He never got the life he wanted,” Bonaduce continued. “It was a real tragedy. I was in Europe when he died, but I heard he was surrounded by his family – Shirley Jones, Shaun Cassidy, Patrick Cassidy. And I heard his last words were, ‘So much time wasted.’ “