Jennifer Aniston; Shaun Cassidy.Photo:Steve Granitz/FilmMagic; Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan
Steve Granitz/FilmMagic; Sean Zanni/Patrick McMullan
Shaun Cassidy has birthday history withJennifer Aniston.
“I did her fifth birthday. I was really young and she’s even younger, and I did her magic show,” Cassidy recalls of his “Cassadini” magic act. “The only reason I knew this is because I knew whoJohn Anistonwas, her dad. My parents knew who he was.” (TheDays of Our Livesdaytime-soap legenddied last November at age 89.)
Show business in all its forms was the family norm for Cassidy, who as a kid often wrote songs while banging away on neighbor Rosemary Clooney’s piano as her kids played basketball with their cousinGeorge Clooney.
On the whole, Cassidy sees his career trajectory as just that — a little “weird.”
“I mean, I had a very explosive first act and then at 21, went into hiding," says the former teen idol, who gave up the pop star life in 1980. “I don’t know if that was conscious, probably was. And I don’t know what inspired that other than I think I was consciously, having had this enormous success and not necessarily wanting to continue on the path of a performer.”
Shaun Cassidy.Spencer Heyfron
Spencer Heyfron
Cassidy’s creative impulse has been lifelong — he’s a lover of theater and playwriting and just plain old writing, something he really leaned into after his twenties.
Shaun Cassidy and David Cassidy.BuzzFoto/FilmMagic
BuzzFoto/FilmMagic
Now his family is front and center in his new show, which finds him performing live in front of audiences for the first time since 1993 and 1994, when he appeared withhis late brother Davidin the Broadway musicalBlood Brothers.
“My story, even though it may be unique on the surface, it really is universal. My show’s a survival story, and it’s really fun and it’s funny. Surprisingly funny, I think,” he says. “And it’s sexy and it’s romantic and it’s emotional, and it’s revealing, and it has been incredibly illuminating for me to go through this process.”
For more on this story and exclusive interview with Shaun Cassidy, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands everywhere Friday.
source: people.com
