People magazine reported this week that the former teen idol called producers of an A&E documentary after he fell ill and told them he had liver disease. In the recorded conversation, Cassidy said he was suffering no sign of dementia and it was “complete alcohol poisoning.” The former Partridge Family star says he had lied by telling friends and family he had stopped drinking.

“There is no sign of me having dementia at this stage of my life,” Cassidy said in the recorded conversation.

“The fact is that I lied about my drinking. I did this to myself to cover up the sadness and the emptiness.”

Cassidy died of organ failure in November last year at age 67. He told People magazine in February last year that he had been suffering from dementia.

He’d said his grandfather and mother had also suffered from the disease and that he had decided to stop touring as a musician to concentrate on his health and happiness.

“I want to focus on what I am, who I am and how I’ve been without any distractions,” he said.

“I want to love. I want to enjoy life.”

Initial reports of his supposed dementia came after Cassidy struggled to remember song lyrics during a performance.

A former teen idol, Cassidy toured the world and found huge fame playing the role of Keith Partridge in The Partridge Family.

But his later career was dogged by financial problems and substance abuse.

In 2010 he was arrested in Florida on suspicion of drink-driving after police said they found a half-empty bottle of whisky in his car.

He was reportedly arrested for drink driving several times in the years afterwards, and lost his licence in 2016.

The producer of the documentary, John Marks, told People that he felt Cassidy had wanted to be honest once and for all about the truth of his health problems.

“I think it will strike a chord with people,” Marks said.

“He wanted to share this very private part of his life, and to be honest once and for all. And I think he succeeded in doing that.”