Farrah Fawcett’s Final Words Were So Heartbreaking
June 25 will mark the 10-year anniversary of Farrah Fawcett's death. She died of anal cancer at age 62.
Friends of the beloved actress opened up about her final days in new interviews with People, revealing that her final words were about her son, Redmond O'Neal.
“She was saying his name, ‘Redmond,'” friend Mela Murphy said.
As the 10-year anniversary of Farrah Fawcett's death approaches, some of her closest friends have opened up about her final days. According to Fawcett's confidant Mela Murphy, who was at her bedside when she died on June 25, 2009, the actress was worried about her son Redmond O'Neal, now 34.
“She was saying his name, ‘Redmond,'” Murphy told People. "That was the last thing she said.” Redmond, who is Fawcett's son with actor Ryan O'Neal, was in prison on drug charges at the time of her death, and had struggled with addiction for many years. “I told her I’d take care of him, that I’ll always be there for him,” Murphy continued. “I said, ‘You can go now.’ It was just a few hours before she died.”
Ryan O'Neal also opened up about his relationship with Fawcett to People, telling the magazine, "There was never a day I didn’t love her." Though the couple never married, they were together on and off for many years.
After having Redmond together in 1985, they split in 1997, but reconciled four years later when O'Neal was diagnosed with leukemia. “Ryan was the love of her life," Fawcett's friend Sylvia Dorsey said. "I don’t think she was happy without him. They fought and loved with passion. It was never boring. They were electric together.”
Fawcett, who was first diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006, chronicled her journey with the disease in a documentary entitled Farrah’s Story, and founded The Farrah Fawcett Foundation to fund HPV-related cancer research and provide patient assistance. Discussing her decision to go public, Fawcett's friend and Charlie's Angels co-star Alana Stewart explained that it had helped her to stay positive as she fought the disease.
“Farrah was glad she went public,” Stewart told People. “She got thousands of letters from people thanking her for her courage in coming forward to say she had anal cancer. That was her thing-to fight the fight.”
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