In the last years of David Cassidy’s life, the former teen idol struggled with alcohol abuse, resulting in three DUI arrests in five years. After a 2014 trip to rehab, he told family and friends that he had stopped drinking. 
 
 But in a new documentary airing on A&E next week, the Partridge Family star made a shocking admission just two months before he died of organ failure on Nov. 21 at the age of 67. After being rushed to the hospital when he fell ill in a recording studio, Cassidy called producers to explain what had happened. 
 
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 “I have a liver disease,” Cassidy explained to A&E producer Saralena Weinfield in a recorded conversation. “There is no sign of me having dementia at this stage of my life. It was complete alcohol poisoning.” 
 
 For more on David Cassidy’s final weeks, pick up this week’s issue of PEOPLE, on stands Friday 
 
 Cassidy then followed up with a shocking confession. “The fact is that I lied about my drinking,” he said. “I did this to myself to cover up the sadness and the emptiness.” 
 
 As it turned out, Cassidy was still abusing alcohol until the last months of his life, an admission that shocked producers of the docuseries. The bombshell is more devastating to Cassidy’s family, including his kids Katie, 31, and Beau, 27, who assumed he was living a clean and sober life. 
 
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 Not everyone is Cassidy’s circle is shocked that the actor and singer would lie about his behavior. 
 
 “Part of alcoholism is lying,” says Partridge costar Danny Bonaduce. “When you’re an addict, you know you can’t be honest with people. You say what you want them to hear. I can’t be mad at David for that, but it’s still a tragedy.” 
 
 RELATED VIDEO: The Partridge Family‘s David Cassidy Dies at 67 
 
 Producers of the docuseries debated what they should do with the footage and ultimately decided to edit it into a documentary titled David Cassidy: the Last Session. In the documentary, a frail and weak Cassidy deals with health problems and memory loss as he records a new album in an attempt to stage a comeback. 
 
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 “I think it will strike a chord with people,” producer John Marks tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue, on stands Friday. “He wanted to share this very private part of his life, and to be honest once and for all. And I think he succeeded in doing that. 
 
 David Cassidy: the Last Session airs June 11 at 9 p.m. on A&E. ||||| The final recording sessions of David Cassidy's life will be the focus of an upcoming A&E documentary about the late Partridge Family actor and Seventies pop idol. 
 
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 David Cassidy: The Last Session finds the singer in the studio as he worked on what would be his final EP Songs My Father Taught Me, which was released posthumously after Cassidy's November 27th death. Over the course of the studio footage, Cassidy's health is seen deteriorating dramatically. 
 
 The two-hour documentary, airing June 11th, also features Cassidy providing an overview of his own life through never-before-heard audio tapes from 1976, as well as interviews with fellow Partridge Family stars and artists like Alice Cooper, Kim Barnes and Hal Blaine. 
 
 On Wednesday, A&E shared a preview from the documentary, a taped phone conversation between Cassidy and a producer in the days after the singer was diagnosed with a "liver disease." 
 
 "The first few days I was unconscious and near death. The last week or so my memory has come back," Cassidy says in the phone call. "That's such a blessing. That means I'm cognizant of my surroundings. That I'm alive, and it's daytime, and I know what day of the week it is. There is no sign of me having dementia at this stage of my life. It was complete alcohol poisoning. And the fact is, I lied about my drinking." 
 
 "The head doctor at the hospital, she said, 'I believe that your dementia was directly related to your alcoholism,'" Cassidy adds. 
 
 "David Cassidy was one of the most beloved teen icons of his time, experiencing an unfathomable amount of fame at such a young age that few will ever truly understand and we are honored to let David tell his own story through his own words," Elaine Frontain Bryant, Executive Vice President and Head of Programming at A&E Network, said in a statement. 
 
 However, the documentary does not come with approval from the Cassidy family. "We, the Cassidy family, were not affiliated with the A&E documentary. All we are interested in is maintaining the legacy of the icon he was," David's son Beau Cassidy said in a statement to Reuters.
– To explain slurred speech and a near fall in the months before his November death from organ failure, David Cassidy publicly claimed he was suffering from dementia. Privately, he admitted his true disease. "There is no sign of me having dementia at this stage of my life. It was complete alcohol poisoning," the former teen idol told a producer in a recorded phone call included in a two-hour A&E documentary airing Monday, per the Washington Post. "The fact is that I lied about my drinking," the Partridge Family star continued, per a clip from David Cassidy: The Last Session, noting a doctor directly related his temporary memory loss to alcoholism, a disease Cassidy long battled. "I did it to myself, man," Cassidy added, his voice breaking. "I did this to myself to cover up the sadness and the emptiness." The admission, which came two months before Cassidy's death, surprised documentary producers, who believed Cassidy had been sober since a stint in rehab in 2014, according to People. Others were less surprised. "Part of alcoholism is lying," Cassidy's Partridge Family costar Danny Bonaduce tells People. "I can't be mad at David for that, but it's still a tragedy." Son Beau Cassidy told Reuters in a statement, "We, the Cassidy family, were not affiliated with the A&E documentary," which shows Cassidy's health deteriorating as he works on his final album, per Rolling Stone. "All we are interested in is maintaining the legacy of the icon he was."