It’s one of those Hollywood stories that usually gets buried under the weight of "Partridge Family" reruns and shimmering pop stardom. We all know David Cassidy as the 1970s teen idol who had girls screaming from Tokyo to New York. But behind the velvet suits and the chart-topping hits, his personal life was a messy, human, and often confusing map of relationships. Most people can name his wives—Kay Lenz, Meryl Tanz, or Sue Shifrin—but the name Sherry Williams is the one that actually changed his legacy the most.
She wasn't a wife. Honestly, she was something more complicated than that. Sherry Williams was the fashion model who shared a high-stakes, off-and-on connection with David during the peak and the subsequent "faded glory" years of his career. More importantly, she’s the woman who gave birth to his first child, actress Katie Cassidy.
The Audition That Changed Everything
Their meeting sounds like a classic Hollywood trope, but it’s actually how it went down. It was 1970. David was the biggest thing on the planet. Sherry was a model trying to break into acting and showed up to audition for a bit part on The Partridge Family. She didn't get the job.
Fate had a different plan, though. David saw her, was immediately floored, and asked her out that very same night. Sherry later recalled that he was so charming she didn't even care about losing the acting gig anymore. She was just into the boy.
What followed wasn't some neat, two-year romance with a white picket fence. It was a saga. Sherry and David maintained a relationship that flickered on and off for nearly two decades. Think about that timeframe. During those years, David married and divorced twice. He was navigating the brutal transition from teen sensation to "where are they now" territory. Through the 70s and 80s, Sherry was a constant, if quiet, presence in the background of his chaotic life.
The Paternity Suit and the Birth of Katie Cassidy
By 1986, things took a turn from "casual" to "consequential." Sherry became pregnant. On November 25, 1986, Katherine Evelyn Cassidy—who the world now knows as the star of Arrow—was born.
But if you’re looking for a story about David rushing to the hospital to pass out cigars, you’re going to be disappointed. The relationship was fractured. In June 1988, Sherry actually filed a paternity suit against David. Newspaper clippings from the time show a stark contrast between the "squeaky-clean" image David tried to maintain and the reality of a model suing him for child support for an 18-month-old daughter.
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Eventually, the legalities were settled, but the emotional distance remained. David was remarkably blunt about this later in life. He told People magazine point-blank: "I wasn't her father. I was her biological father but I didn't raise her."
That’s a heavy thing to say. Sherry ended up marrying Richard Benedon, who became the man Katie truly considered her father. While David was "around" occasionally—Katie didn't really meet him properly until she was in fourth grade—it was Sherry who did the heavy lifting of parenting while David dealt with his own "demons."
Life in the Shadows of Fame
Why didn't they ever marry? Sherry seems to be the one woman in David’s orbit who actually didn't want to walk down the aisle with him. In various interviews and retrospective podcasts, it's been suggested that she saw the volatility of his life and chose a different path for herself.
She wasn't chasing the spotlight. While David was spiraling through DUI arrests and public struggles with alcoholism in his later years, Sherry lived a relatively private life in Los Angeles. She raised Katie to be disciplined—her grandmother even taught her about being frugal—which is probably why Katie managed to build a successful career without relying on the Cassidy bank account.
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Key Details of the Sherry-David Dynamic
- Duration: Off and on for roughly 15-20 years.
- Legal Status: Never married.
- Child: One daughter, Katie Cassidy.
- The Turning Point: The 1988 paternity suit that made their private struggle public.
The Complicated Ending
When David Cassidy died in 2017 from organ failure related to his lifelong battle with alcohol, the narrative around his "family" got even weirder. His will, which hadn't been updated since 2004, notoriously left his assets to his son, Beau, and nothing to Katie.
Despite that, the "silver lining" Katie often talks about is how her father’s death brought the family back together. Sherry, despite the decades of distance and the legal battles of the 80s, remained the bridge between Katie and the Cassidy clan.
It’s easy to look at Sherry Williams and David Cassidy as just a footnote in a celebrity biography. But if you look closer, Sherry represents the "real" side of David's life—the side that wasn't edited for teen magazines. She was the one who stayed when things were messy and left when she needed to protect her peace.
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If you’re digging into the Cassidy history, don't just look at the marriages. Look at the people who actually lived through the long-term reality of David's career. Sherry Williams wasn't just a "former model"; she was the primary architect of the next generation of Cassidy talent, raising a daughter who succeeded where her father often struggled.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Researchers:
- Check the Timeline: When researching David’s life, notice how Sherry overlaps with his first two marriages. It adds a whole different layer to his "heartthrob" persona.
- Follow the Legacy: To see the impact of Sherry’s upbringing, look at Katie Cassidy’s early career. She purposefully didn't use the Cassidy name for a long time, a direct result of being raised outside David's immediate shadow.
- Read the Primary Sources: Look for the 1988 news archives regarding the paternity suit. It offers a rare, unvarnished look at the legal struggles celebrities faced before the era of social media.