Farrah Fawcett’s Partner Ryan O’Neal Still Buys Roses in Her Memory 14 Years After Her Death | “My Forever Valentine”

Ryan O'Neal first met actress Farrah Fawcett in 1979 and at the time she was married to actor, Lee Majors. After they split O'Neal who had been married twice before meeting Fawcett couldn't help but feel an intense attraction towards her. He knew he was falling for her and falling hard. The actress separated from Majors in 1971 and divorced him in 1982. The new couple was madly in love and O'Neal made sure that his new love felt special all the time.

But it wasn't all smooth sailing for the couple. In 1997 the relationship hit stormy waters when Fawcett walked in on O'Neal and The General’s Daughter actress Leslie Ann Stefanson together in bed. Their two-decade relationship came to an end in 1998. However, they found their way back to one another in 2001 after O'Neal was diagnosed with leukemia. Fawcett and O'Neal never married but had a son Redmond in 1985. "We started over again, and this time we built it in a way that had foundation and trust," O'Neal told Vanity Fair. "Our son was happy. And Farrah was mature. She didn't get mad at me so easily."

Sadly Fawcett was later diagnosed with cancer in 2006 which then spread to her liver. The beautiful actress died in 2009 at 62. Friends of the beloved star revealed that her final words were about her son, Redmond O'Neal. She was concerned about her then-24-year-old son who she shared with longtime love O'Neal as he was battling drug addiction and serving time in prison for drug-related charges.

Fawcett's confidant, Mela Murphy, was at her bedside when she died on June 25, 2009. “She was saying [her son’s] name, ‘Redmond’,” Murphy recalled to PEOPLE of the last moments of the superstar’s life. She added, “That was the last thing she said … I told her I’d take care of him, that I’ll always be there for him. I said, ‘You can go now.’ It was just a few hours before she died.”

To this day O'Neal still honors her in every way he can. Nearly 14 years after her death, on this Valentine's day he paid tribute to her by sharing a picture of a rose laid on her Hollywood Walk of Fame star with the caption, "My forever Valentine". The 81-year-old often posts tributes to her on special occasions like her birthday even now. 

In 2012, O'Neal published Both of Us: My Life with Farrah as he dealt with the loss of his longtime partner. The Hollywood Reporter pointed out O'Neal said writing the book was "cathartic," giving him an opportunity to explain his life with Fawcett and "paint a clearer picture to everyone, including me." The two were supposed to get married on the day she died. “The priest at St John’s Hospital arrives to marry us but administers the last rites instead,” he wrote as the doctor removed her life support the next day and Farrah died just a few hours later with O’Neal at her side. 

References:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/ryan-oneal-farrah-fawcett-book-both-of-us-revelations-318631/

https://people.com/tv/farrah-fawcett-final-days-last-words/

https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2009/09/farrah-fawcett200909

https://www.instagram.com/p/Coqzhucr5fG/

Cover Image Source: (L) Getty Images | Photo by Express Newspapers (R) Instagram | ryan_o_neal