David Cassidy reveals private battle with dementia

David Cassidy is battling dementia.

The 66-year-old actor, best recognized as heartthrob Keith Partridge on the 1970s series “The Partridge Family,” has admitted to PEOPLE Magazine he is faced with the neurological disease.

“I was in denial, but a part of me always knew this was coming,” said Cassidy to the celebrity news publication about his diagnosis.

“I want to focus on what I am, who I am and how I’ve been without any distractions,” he also said on his decision to stop touring. “I want to love. I want to enjoy life.”

The news came just days after Cassidy struggled to remember lyrics to songs he had been singing for nearly 50 years before falling off the stage during a southern California show on Saturday. At that same concert, Cassidy told the crowd he was retiring.