How is Danny Bonaduce doing since his brain surgery?

In the 60s and 70s, Bonaduce had a successful career as a child actor and musician. He gained fame for his role as the cute Danny Partridge, but had a very tough childhood in real life. By his own account, his father — a TV writer and producer — abused him physically and emotionally. His life has had many ups and downs since then and the latest saga has been all about health.

After suffering from severe neurological symptoms for more than a year, Danny Bonaduce, now 64, had to radically change his life in 2022. He even put his house in Seattle up for sale because, unable to walk, he could no longer cope with stairs.

Is symptoms got so bad that he eventually needed brain surgery. Bonaduce explained that he got a shunt in his head to drain out the excess fluid. Read on to learn more about his condition, and how he's been doing since then.

The first signs of the mysterious illness appeared in April 2022. At first, his wife Amy Railsback noticed he was having major issues with his speech. "You're not saying words, you're not speaking English," Bonaduce recalled her saying in an interview with ABC News.

Image: therealdannybonaduce / Instagram

Unable to speak, Bonaduce was rushed to the hospital, where he stayed for five full days. He said he remembered very little of his time there.

Image: therealdannybonaduce / Instagram

In addition to his speech and memory impairment, Bonaduce was "unable to walk at all" or balance. His father had had a stroke, and he initially thought he had experienced a stroke as well.

Image: therealdannybonaduce / Instagram

Despite presenting many stroke symptoms, his doctor eventually ruled that out. However, at the time, Bonaduce announced that he was taking a temporary medical leave from his radio show. "I'm still working towards receiving a diagnosis. What I know is, I need time to focus on my health," he said in a social media post.

Image: therealdannybonaduce / Instagram

Over the following months, Bonaduce consulted with what he described as "hundreds of doctors" to get to the bottom of his health scare. "My life was talking to doctors. I had meetings with five doctors on one single day, and nobody could figure out what it was,” he told TMZ.

Image: therealdannybonaduce / Instagram

Bonaduce eventually returned to hosting his radio show from home. “My brain is still a little fuzzy, but that’s never stopped me — or the people who hire me,” he quipped on Instagram. However, he was still falling down and having trouble walking, among other symptoms.

The actor, radio host, and black belt in karate explained how one doctor finally gave him a diagnosis: Hydrocephalus, which he described to TMZ as “water on the brain."

It’s a neurological condition characterized by an abnormal accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain, leading to increased pressure and potential damage. It can cause symptoms like headaches, nausea, balance problems, and cognitive impairments. It can be present at birth or acquired later in life due to injury or infection.

Image: 2-Minute Neuroscience: Hydrocephalus/ Neuroscientifically Challenged / Youtube

Speaking on TMZ, the former child star said he'd done so many foolish things that he can't pinpoint what may have caused it. "On a reality TV show, I took a guitar to the head… I got punched in the head by Jose Canseco,” he recounted to TMZ.

In July, it had been one month from his surgery, and he was back to work at his radio show, where he offers life advice to callers. In an Instagram post, he let his fans know that he was "doing well and feeling great!"

Then, on his 64th birthday on Aug. 13, he shared another Instagram update, looking great and with a big smile on his face. He said he was "doing well and having a great day." He said his wife had taken him to a cozy Italian restaurant in Seattle to celebrate his 'Beatles' birthday ('Will you still need me, will you still feed me
When I'm sixty-four'). Since then, he's been working and enjoying life, seemingly fully recovered!

Image: therealdannybonaduce/Instagram

In the late 1980s, Bonaduce became a radio personality, but he was also battling struggles with drugs. In 1990 and 1991, he was arrested on two occasions, once for buying c o c a i n e and then for assaulting and robbing a s e x worker. He was fired and divorced around this time.

A life in the spotlight, he hasn’t been afraid of sharing his struggles. In 2005, he starred in an intimate reality TV show about his turbulent life with his wife, which also depicted how he turned to performance enhancing drugs and bodybuilding to fill the void of drugs, as well as his depression and a relapse. He described his life as “a car crash.”

In 2007, he divorced for the second time and in 2010 married his current wife Amy. It seems that this has finally helped bring Bondauce contentment. Before his mom recently died at the age of 97, she called Amy to “thank her because she didn’t need to worry about me anymore,” according to Bondauce's Instagram.

Image: therealdannybonaduce / Instagram