Shaun Cassidy is blasting his late father, Jack Cassidy.
In a new interview with People, Shaun, 66, called the Tony Award-winning actor — who died in an apartment fire in 1976 at age 49 — a “phony.”
“My dad was so complicated,” the actor and singer said about Jack. “He basically invented this public persona with an accent that didn’t exist in any country ever.”
Shaun Cassidy performs during a live concert appearance in August 2019. John Atashian/Getty Images
Jack Cassidy performing in the play “Murder Among Friends.” Bettmann ArchiveShaun recalled that when Jack got famous and began appearing on talk shows, he’d speak with a borderline-British accent — which confused Shaun and his younger brothers, Patrick, 63, and Ryan, 59.
“Patrick and Ryan and I would be like, ‘What is up with this dude?'” shared. “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.”
Jack Cassidy and Shirley Jones in a car with their children at the New York World’s Fair in 1964. Getty ImagesShaun went on to declare that Jack “was not a good father.”
“And I don’t say that with disrespect,” the former teen idol continued. “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.”
Jack Cassidy in 1950. Getty ImagesThe “He & She” actor, who shared Shaun with fellow Hollywood star Shirley Jones, 91, was allegedly not involved in Shaun’s life when he was growing up.
“I didn’t get the dad who went to my Little League games or took me on camping trips or any of that stuff. My mom did,” Shaun told People. “My mom showed up for a lot of that stuff, but she was also gone a lot. She was making movies around the world. I think one of the reasons she took ‘The Partridge Family’ job is because she wanted to be close to home.”
Shaun Cassidy and Melinda Newman speak at An Evening With Shaun Cassidy in Los Angeles on Sept. 4, 2025. Getty Images for The Recording Academy
Shaun Cassidy attends the 2025 TCM Classic Film Festival. Getty Images for TCM
Shirley Jones and Jack Cassidy. Corbis via Getty ImagesShaun added of his parents, “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,” Shaun explained. “Almost all the pictures I have were taken by professional photographers, often for magazines.”
Shaun Cassidy in a portrait photo. Corbis/VCG via Getty Images
Shaun Cassidy blows out his birthday cake candles on his second birthday with mom Shirley Jones. Bettmann Archive“Going out in public with them as a little kid, everyone was in love with my mother, and everybody was sort of dazzled by my father,” Shaun remembered. “I remember being proud of that, feeling like, ‘Oh, isn’t that cool?'”
Jack had another son, actor and musician David Cassidy, from his marriage to his first wife, Evelyn Ward. David died in November 2017 from organ failure after years of alcoholism. He was 67.
