Partridge Family Star Shirley Jones' Success Doomed Her Marriage To Jack Cassidy

Actor Shirley Jones was perhaps best-known for lighting up TV screens in the '70s-era musical sitcom "The Partridge Family." Much like Shirley Partridge and her fictional family, Jones' foray into the entertainment world resulted in a hectic life away from home. Jones may still be glowing inside and out decades after the series. However, her marriage did not age as well while her career continued to grow.

"The stratospheric success of the show took its toll on my marriage to Jack," Jones wrote in her 2013 memoir, "Shirley Jones: A Memoir," via Parade. Jones continued that her success struck a chord with the less prosperous Cassidy, which led to his adultery. "His overriding sense of inferiority in the face of my success drove him into the arms of other women even more often than before." Initially the celeb couple survived the affairs, but Jones and Cassidy subsequently separated, and eventually divorced. Their son, Shaun Cassidy, said that, during that era, his dad harbored jealousy toward Jones and his own son, David Cassidy, which eventually led to the marriage's downfall. "He had taken a backseat to my mother," Shaun told Nostalgia Tonight with Joe Sibilia in January 2026. "My mother was an Academy Award winner and a very big movie star before 'The Partridge Family.' And then along comes David. And David becomes kind of the biggest thing in the world for a while. And he had a hard time with it."

"The Partridge Family's" Shirley Jones was married to fellow actor and singer Jack Cassidy from 1956 to 1975. Jones explained in a January 2014 interview with VC On Stage that she was drawn toward his looks and wit. "As gorgeous as Jack looked and as handsome as he was and all of that, what got to me with him was his sense of humor," she said.

Cassidy tragically died in a fire just one year after their divorce in 1976. Though Jones moved on to another marriage with actor and comedian Marty Ingels, she acknowledged Cassidy still held a massive place in her heart, despite his shortcomings, and she still may have been going through the grieving process of her divorce when she remarried. "[Cassidy] wanted to come back to me right up to the day he died," Jones told the Toledo Blade in April 1983. "And I wanted him. That's the terrible part. Much as I love Marty, and have a wonderful relationship — I'd say this if Marty were sitting here, I'm not sure if Jack were still alive I'd be married to him (Marty)." It's clear Jones' success and cheery image haven't come without her own personal struggles and emotional baggage.