David Cassidy is speaking out again about his battle with dementia.
One week after publicly revealing his struggle with the brain disease, he will appear on Dr. Phil Wednesday to discuss how it's affected his life. The Partridge Family actor says he first noticed symptoms of the disease two and half years ago. "When friends of yours or family members begin to tell you and say to you—'Remember? I just told you this two days ago?'—and there's no memory of it, that's when I began to be very concerned," he tells Dr. Phil McGraw. After seeing his own mother "disappear" to the same disease, he told his 26-year-old son, Beau Cassidy, "I want you to promise me you'll find a way to let me go. Don't let me live like that."
David went public about his struggles after footage from a concert in Agoura Hills, Calif., showed him falling, slurring his speech and struggling to remember the lyrics to his music. His curious behavior caused some fans to fear that David had relapsed into alcohol addiction, given that the singer had been busted for DUI three times since 2010 and went to rehab in 2014.
But David denies he'd been drinking during his show, insisting he stumbled on a stage monitor. "I tripped on that. But I certainly wasn't intoxicated, and it has nothing to do with why I'm leaving," he says. "Certainly, my dementia has contributed to the reason why I don't want to go out and I don't want to hear, 'Well, he looked like he was drunk'...I wasn't."
The "I Think I Love You" singer will perform his final two concerts at B.B. King's Blues Club in New York this weekend. David's full interview on Dr. Phil airs Wednesday (check local listings).
Sharing his story isn't easy, but he hopes it helps others in similar situations.
As David explained to People last week, "I was in denial, but a part of me always knew this was coming. In the end, the only way I knew [my mom] recognized me is with one single tear that would drop from her eye every time I walked into the room. I feared I would end up that way."
As he steps out of the spotlight, the 66-year-old former teen idol said, "I want to focus on what I am, who I am and how I've been without any distractions. I want to love. I want to enjoy life."