David Cassidy, Partridge Family Star, Is Battling Dementia

The actor and musician David Cassidy is battling dementia years after witnessing his grandfather and mother suffer from the same neurological condition.

The 66-year-old, best-loved for his starring role as Keith Partridge on the 1970s series The Partridge Family, told PEOPLE that he was in denial about being diagnosed with the memory loss disease, but a part of him “always knew this was coming.”

Cassidy, a former teen heartthrob, has stopped touring to concentrate on his health and wellbeing. “I want to focus on what I am, who I am and how I’ve been without any distractions,” he said.

His decision comes days after he worried fans when he seemed to repeatedly forget lyrics to songs he had been singing for nearly 50 years during a show in Agoura Hills, Calif. At one point, he also appeared to fall off the side of a small stage, Sky reports.