Danny Bonaduce

Danny Bonaduce (born Dante Daniel Bonaduce) is a former child star best known for his role in the early 1970s as Danny Partridge on The Partridge Family and his many run-ins with the law.

I. Early Life

Bonaduce was born on August 13, 1959, in Broomall, Pennsylvania into a family connected to the entertainment business. His father, Joseph Bonaduce, was a TV writer/producer for various TV shows such as Mayberry RFD, One Day At A Time, and Good Times.

Bonaduce began his TV acting career in 1969 with small roles on the TV shows The Ghost & Mrs. Muir, Mayberry R.F.D., and Bewitched. In 1970 he was cast as little Danny Partridge on the hit TV show The Partridge Family. Danny Partridge was a young boy in a family of musical siblings that toured from town to town in The Partridge Family. Bonaduce was well known for his role and achieved quite a bit of fame during his pre-pubescent years.





Unfortunately, Bonaduce had a bad relationship with his father - Bonaduce claims that his father had nothing but animosity for him from the day he was born, and that the situation grew worse with Danny's pre-pubescent success on The Partridge Family. When Shirley Jones, the actress who played his mother on The Partridge Family, noticed that Bonaduce was coming in with bruises on his arms on Monday mornings, she realized that he was being abused at home, and tried to protect Bonaduce by allowing him to stay with her or with other cast members during the weekends.

In 1973 Bonaduce released a self-titled album. Bonaduce has admitted that his vocals can barely be heard on the album and that most of the singing was provided by Bruce Roberts. The album was apparently so awful that a record store, Rhino Store, paid customers 5 cents to take home Bonaduce's album.

Bonaduce's career hit the skids shortly after The Partridge Family was cancelled in 1974 and he drifted into a life of drug abuse and endured a period of homelessness during his late teens and early twenties.

II. Bonaduce's Life After The Partridge Family

Bonaduce briefly worked as a stable boy for Kenny Rogers after The Partridge Family was cancelled. He drifted aimlessly at this point in his life and eventually developed an addiction for cocaine. In 1985, he was arrested with 50 grams of cocaine in his car. In 1990, he was arrested at a Daytona Beach crack house. He went through rehab in 1991, 2001, and 2005.

Bonaduce claims that at one point he was so addicted to smoking crack that he could no longer wait for the pipe to cool down. He says that he had giant burns on his fingers and lips because he would pick up a red-hot pipe and stick it in his mouth. He also claims that he could hear the searing of flesh burning from the hot crack pipe.

His mother eventually tracked him down in Hollywood Hills and convinced him to move back in with her and get his life back together.

Bonaduce eventually did get his life back together and started a radio DJ/commentary career on WEGX in Philadelphia. He then went to KKFR in Phoenix, Arizona. Bonaduce worked at KKFR until 1991, when he was fired after being charged with assaulting and beating Darius Barney, a transvestite prostitute. Bonaduce later stated that he thought that the prostitute was a girl when he picked him up and let him into his car. When he found out that the prostitute was a man, he ordered the prostitute to leave. When the prostitute refused to leave unless Danny paid him $40, Bonaduce opened the passenger side door of his car and pulled him out of the car. Bonaduce then punched the much larger Barney because he feared that Barney was going to attack him. Although he only received probation, the resulting bad publicity caused KKFR to terminate his employment.

Bonaduce has been a staple on FM-radio over the years and currently co-hosts the morning talk show, The Adam Carolla Show, with Adam Carolla. Bonaduce also co-hosted the morning TV talk show, The Other Half, from 2001-2003.

Bonaduce married real estate agent Setsuko Hattori in 1985; they divorced three years later, in 1988. On November 4, 1990, Bonaduce met his second wife, Gretchen Hillmer, on a blind date. Bonaduce married Hillmer a few hours into their first date. Hillmer put up with Bonaduce's infidelities for many years until April 9, 2007, when she filed a divorce petition, citing irreconcilable differences.

III. Celebrity Boxing

Despite being very short in stature, Bonaduce has participated several celebrity boxing matches for charity. In 1994, Bonaduce participated in a charity boxing match against Donny Osmond. Osmond and Bonaduce were both living in Chicago and worked out at the same gym. They apparently were not friends and Osmond made fun of Bonaduce when he saw Bonaduce looking at himself in the mirror, calling Bonaduce a "poseur." Osmond appeared on a DJ radio show the next day and mentioned the incident. The DJ asked Osmond whether he could kick Bonaduce's ass, and Osmond replied that he could. Bonaduce took offense and eventually a charity boxing match was arranged between Osmond and Bonaduce.

The three-round fight took place at the China Club in Chicago. Bonaduce apparently fought dirty, hitting on the break, stuck his thumb in Osmond's eye, backhanded, and threw elbows at Osmond. Bonaduce bloodied Osmond's nose during the match and won a two-to-one split decision. Osmond was upset with the judges' decision and wanted to go another round. Bonaduce said that Osmond should go fight his sister (Marie Osmond) and offered to fight a bare knuckle round against Osmond. Eventually cooler heads prevailed and both Osmond and Bonaduce walked away from the ring.

Eight years later, in 2002, Bonaduce returned to the ring to fight fellow washed-up celebrity Barry Williams (from the Brady Bunch). Although much shorter and smaller than Williams, Bonaduce pummeled Williams, knocking him down five times before the referee finally called the match in the second round.






IV. Breaking Bonaduce Reality Show

Bonaduce was been the star of the reality show based on his life, Breaking Bonaduce. During the course of the show, Bonaduce revealed his marriage infidelities, previous drug use, and current abuse of steroids.

The show showed the world that Bonaduce has serious emotional problems in his life. He tries to fill the void by having affairs and become a juiced-up gym rat. The show had to have hurt Bonaduce's career, as it portrayed him as a raging psychopath. There was an episode in which Bonaduce was playing with his daughter who asked him why he was wearing bandages on his wrists. Bonaduce was wearing the bandages because he had slashed them after his wife, Gretchen, asked him for a divorce. Bonaduce hurt himself at the end of a crazy night that started with hours of drinking and taking pills, and landed him in the psychiatric ward.

V. Altercation With Johnny Fairplay

On October 2, 2007, Bonaduce was in the audience at the FOX Reality Channel Awards show when he mixed things up with former Survivor contestation Johnny Fairplay. I had never even heard of Johnny Fairplay, but apparently he lied about his grandmother dying when he was on Survivor in an attempt to avoid being voted off, and is universally hated for doing so.

Fairplay was on stage towards the end of the Awards show and being booed by the audience. In an unscripted turn of events, Bonaduce walked up onto the stage from the audience and told Fairplay he was being booed because the audience hated him. Bonaduce then turned around and started walking off of the stage.

Fairplay called Bonaduce back and said something to him and then leapt into Bonaduce's arms, and straddled and humped him, supposedly as a blatantly homosexual joke that was part of Fairplay's shtick.

Bonaduce adjusted his balance and his grip on Fairplay and then threw him over his head, causing Fairplay to land face-first onto the stage floor in a loud thud. Fairplay bled significantly, lost some teeth and suffered a broken toe.


Fairplay pressed charges and police opened a felony battery investigation with Bonaduce as the named suspect. Bonaduce maintained his innocence and stated he was acting in self-defense. The L.A. district attorney's office concluded a few days later that there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Bonaduce had committed battery because Fairplay had initiated the contact and Bonaduce had acted in self-defense.

VI. Bonaduce's Baby-Dick

Bonaduce is apparently hung like a gnat and sports a tiny baby-dick. In October 2007, Bonaduce was a guest at the Erotic Ball in San Francisco. Bonaduce dropped his pants during the Ball, showing off his tiny junk. PerezHilton.com has an unedited version of a photo of Bonaduce naked (this link is NSFW).

VII. Conclusion

Bonaduce has been in the public eye for nearly 40 years and has lived one unusual life. For the reasons discussed above, there is no doubt that Danny Bonaduce is one washed-up celebrity!