Danny Bonaduce was considered cute once. Then he got older and no one gave a rat’s behind about the Partridge Family or how happy they were. He milked the whole child-star thing as long as he could, making all the same mistakes, doing all the same drugs, having all the same near-death experiences and run-ins with the law, and yet…
"Will Take Off Shirt To Stay Relevant."
We had no idea, because we didn’t care. Until VH1 started this series called “Where Are They Now?” By that time, some faceless guy named Danny Bonaduce had become something of a radio sensation in Los Angeles because he has a very good voice for radio. He liked talking about drinking and drugs, and how he liked drinking and doing drugs, and all of his guests were invited to come and listen to him talk about himself and perhaps get a word in edgewise, if they were vigilant and cared.
Fortunately, Danny’s self-destructive nature made for good listening, and, VH1 assumed, good television. So the former child-star scored himself a reality show called “Breaking Bonaduce”, in which only the most horrific of scenes were edited into the show. There had to be some down time in between the obsessive workouts and steroids and drinking and hitting on women he wasn’t married to, but none of those moments made it to the small screen. And that’s just how he wanted it. He liked being the bad seed, being shown so drunk that he called his wife, swearing at her after he had spent an evening surrounded by chicks who were not her. He liked laughing about how he couldn’t and wouldn’t stop the drinking and the drugs.
Of course, he went to rehab, and that was all televised as well. He learned so much at rehab that it took him maybe weeks to relapse. His wife, who we could have felt sorry for had she not married him the night they met (she wouldn’t sleep with him until they were married, so he married her right then), finally grew the stones required to get rid of him for good—after 16 years.
Now, less than six months after his divorce was finalized, Danny, 49, has given an engagement ring to girlfriend Amy Railsbeck, 26. The romantic proposal came as every young girl dreams it would: with a diamond and ruby-studded skull-and-crossbones ring. Ah, sweet romance. Evidently, Danny proposed several times during their courtship during the last few years (his divorce was when, again?), but never with a ring. Railsbeck has said that, “He promises to get me a grown-up engagement ring and wedding ring when we get married.” Dare to dream, Amy. But don’t hold your breath.
The blushing bride-to-be, who is a younger version of Danny’s ex, has said that she would prefer an intimate ceremony, although she doesn’t know when it will happen. She has told friends that, “I’d want a smaller ceremony and I’d invite my closest friends, and of course his family and siblings. Maybe 12 people, tops.” If I were marrying Danny Bonaduce, I would only want ’12 people, tops’ to know about it, too.
Good news for ex-wife Gretchen, who now, no longer enslaved by Bonaduce’s obsession with redheads, can go back to her original color for the first time in almost 2 decades.