David Cassidy says he was a lonely sex symbol

Crooner David Cassidy says he was a lonely sex symbol.

The American singer, who also starred in The Partridge Family, has revealed he never met women and was unable to socialize. "I had no life. I was physically and professionally 25, but I was emotionally 19," he told US talk show host Oprah Winfrey. "I hadn't - other than my wife who later became my wife - I hadn't had a date.

"I couldn't go out, I couldn't go to restaurants, I couldn't do any of that."

Cassidy, now 57, said although having hoards of girls screaming his name was "fun", he was unable to live a normal life. "I honestly can't say that I was truly an innocent, because I was very fortunate," he laughed. "It was a very different time now - coming out of the late sixties and into the seventies.

"Like any red-blooded American boy I was locked up in my hotel room from time to time, because I couldn't go out and socialize.

"It was very difficult for me to meet women - not young girls, because a lot of them were young girls - so it became a very difficult thing for me.

"I wanted to have that relationship. I felt very isolated and lonely."

Cassidy continued: "You're an idol, you're a sex symbol, you're all that stuff.

"No - what I am is a songwriter, I'm an actor, I'm a singer, I'm a writer, I'm a producer, I'm a director and I've done all of that.

"In order to date you have to meet people and I couldn't meet people.

"In the end I found it so difficult to be just a human being."

The songwriter said he was worried that we now lived in a world which is saturated with celebrity. "I think it's a dangerous thing now where people just want to be famous," he told Oprah. "We have become celebrity obsessed.

"The only thing that lasts, the only thing that survives, is talent."

By Owen Williams, Feb 13 2008 © Copyright 2008 - Showbiz Spy