Inside The Partridge Family star Susan Dey’s heartbreaking health battle as a child actor

Susan Dey rose to fame as Laurie Partridge in the iconic 70s television series The Partridge Family. She was just 17 years old when she landed the role, and the sudden adjustment to life in the spotlight certainly took its toll. She left the show in 1974, and in 2004, she stepped away from Hollywood in search of a more private life.

While her brunette locks and blue eyes became part of her iconography in her early years, she traded her signature look for a blonde bob as the county deputy district attorney Grace Van Owen in LA Law from 1986 to 1992. 

HELLO! are taking a close look at the former actress’s heartbreaking health battles she suffered with during her fame. 

Susan Dey’s battle with anorexia 

Susan developed an eating disorder during her time on The Partridge Family. “I’m not in the clear yet – I’m still trying to overcome my anorexia,” she told The Enquirer in 1993. “It’s something that has been plaguing my life. Beating a severe eating disorder is something you cannot do alone.” Prior to being cast as Laurie, Susan was a model and appeared in many teen magazines, which may have also affected her body image.

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She also admitted to The Washington Post in 1989 that being a child star was like being “an adult but you are not an adult”.

Alcoholism

The media intrusively revealed that Susan was a frequent attendee of Alcoholics Anonymous meetings, which she argued was a breach of her privacy. “I usually don’t talk about it because I feel it’s my business and nobody else’s,” she told Parade.

“After I had been sober for a year, I was given a cake at [an AA] meeting. The tabloids ran a big story about it. I was furious that they had planted an informant in my AA group.”

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Where is Susan Dey today?

Susan married her second husband, producer Bernard Sofronski, in 1988. She is a mother to one daughter, whom she shares with her first husband, Lenny Hirshan. 

The former star has previously admitted that she misses performing, but says she is content with the life she leads now. “I miss acting as much as I miss my mom, as much as I miss my little girl, as much as I miss my first home,” she told WSKG Public Media. “I do miss acting, but I’m really happy with what’s going on in my life right now. It’s full. It’s so full.”