David Cassidy is in court-ordered rehab and facing months of alcohol-education and probation stemming from his latest DUI arrest in January. Now the former "Partridge Family" star is opening up to Closer Weekly about his battle with alcoholism.
"I am not ashamed, and alcohol does not define me," Cassidy, 63, told the magazine. "It’s been a problem for me for nearly 10 years, but it will no longer be a problem."
Cassidy's arrest in January, after he was stopped for making an illegal turn near Los Angeles International Airport, was his third DUI since 2011.
"I know now that if I continued to drink the way I was, I would die within two, three years," Cassidy told Closer. "I would die emotionally and physically. I’d just be a sad, lonely drunk, and that’s a horrible and frightening nightmarish picture."
On top of all of his problems, Cassidy's wife of 23 years, Sue, filed for divorce in February. But the former teen idol tells Closer that he's found love again with a 52-year-old interior designer named Maura.
He told Closer she asked him, "How long are you going to continue to drink? Because I don’t want to see you kill yourself."
"She’s just become like my rock," Cassidy said. "She was never judgmental; that was No. 1 for me."
The new issue of Closer is on newsstands now.