HOLLYWOOD, Calif. — Farrah Fawcett’s final weeks were filled with pain and suffering, but her longtime companion Ryan O’Neal says the actress was fighting to stay alive until she died from cancer on June 25.
“I think she was holding on,” O’Neal said during an interview Tuesday on NBC’s “Today Show.” “I didn’t think she wanted to go. She had things left on her plate to finish, to accomplish.”
O’Neal and Fawcett’s close friend Alana Stewart gathered at the star’s bedside when Fawcett’s physician feared that the “Charlie’s Angel” star only had hours to live.
“I had a bed put in the room for me. And I just lay by her side. And she wouldn’t … move on. She wouldn’t pass,” O’Neal said of Fawcett, who managed to hold on for a couple more days. “She just, she just looked at us with a slight smile. It was awful. And then, all of a sudden, the machines flatlined. After about 16 hours she was gone.”
O’Neal said Fawcett’s biggest concern was the future of their 24-year-old son, Redmond, who has battled substance abuse problems and is currently in jail for violating probation on a previous drug conviction. Redmond was granted a court-approved hospital visit in April to see his mother, but was not bedside in her final hours. The elder O’Neal said his son had a final phone conversation with his mother, in which he made a “a promise of a good life. Of a life that she would be proud of. Because he is her legacy. Now he knows that, finally. It’s clear.”
O’Neal also discussed the posthumous Emmy nod that Fawcett received last week for her NBC documentary, “Farrah’s Story,” which chronicled her 2½—year cancer battle.
“Oh boy, she always wanted one,” O’Neal said of Fawcett’s desires for an Emmy. “She worked very hard to get one, thought she’d win for ‘The Burning Bed’ and even had a speech. So it comes a little late. But I’m sure she knows.”
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