Farrah Fawcett’s close friend Alana Stewart is opening up about the “Charlie’s Angels” star’s relationship with longtime love Ryan O’Neal.
The actress died in the “Love Story” actor’s arms in 2009 at age 62. The cause of death was anal cancer.
Stewart, who runs The Farrah Fawcett Foundation, an organization launched by her pal, confirmed to People magazine on Tuesday that the two are buried next to each other at Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles.
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“I don’t think he ever really got over her dying,” the 79-year-old told the outlet. “And now it’s sad because he’s gone, but I always think about them being together.”
“She basically died in his arms,” said Stewart. “I don’t think he was ever the same, because she was definitely the love of his life, and he was the love of her life.”
O’Neal passed away in 2023 at age 82.
Fawcett and O’Neal fell in love while she was married to Lee Majors, the star of “The Six Million Dollar Man.” According to the outlet, sparks flew after Majors asked O’Neal to check in on his wife while he was away filming.
Fawcett and O’Neal began dating in 1979, when she and Majors separated before divorcing in 1982. They went on to have a 17-year on-again, off-again relationship. They welcomed a son, Redmond O’Neal, in 1985.
The outlet noted that the two broke up in 1997 but reconnected in 2001 after O’Neal was diagnosed with leukemia. They never married.
“She and Ryan, when they were home with their son, and he was very little, she cooked the meals,” said Stewart. “And when she had to go away on location for something because she was working a lot then, they would pack the whole family up and go.”
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“Her home life was a more normal life in that regard,” said Stewart. “It was just when she went out in public, people went crazy.”
When Fawcett was diagnosed with cancer in 2006, O’Neal stayed by her side.
“Even ’til the end, she was still fighting, and Ryan was there the whole time; from the time she was diagnosed with cancer, he was there,” Stewart told the outlet.
In 2023, Stewart told Fox News Digital that Fawcett was exhibiting symptoms while she was taking care of her mother in Texas for a couple of months. The matriarch passed away in 2005 at age 91.
“Her mother was dying,” Stewart recalled. “And then she started having a few symptoms while she was there [in Texas] but ignored them. She was taking care of her mom and that was her focus. But when she came back, Ryan said, ‘You’ve got to go to the doctor and get this checked out.’ So she did. They did a colonoscopy and that’s when they found it.”
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“That’s part of our mission statement – awareness and prevention,” said Stewart. “It’s so important to catch things early. Maybe when she started having symptoms, if she had listened to her body and had gone to a doctor, then maybe the outcome might have been different. It’s so easy to put aside any symptoms because you think, ‘Oh, it’s not serious,’ or, ‘I’ll just deal with it next week, next month.'”
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“With cancer, early detection is everything,” Stewart stressed. “So many cancers can be cured now if you catch them early enough. With Farrah, hers was already Stage 4. If she had done something about the symptoms early on, she could very well be alive today.”
Stewart said that during Fawcett’s cancer battle, she and O’Neal leaned on each other for support.
“He was there by her side every moment,” said Stewart. “We didn’t want to admit that things weren’t looking good. I don’t think Farrah did either. She was determined to keep on fighting. And we were going to be there for her. But I think there came a time when we all just looked at each other and just knew. She wasn’t going to get better.”
