Close friend Alana Stewart shared at the time of Fawcett's illness: "[O'Neal] never left her side, especially those last few months. I think they would’ve married if she had made it because he asked her to marry him in the hospital and she said yes. But she took a turn for the worse. This was just a few weeks before the end, so perhaps it wasn’t realistic. The two of them had a deep bond and deep love. No matter what they went through, the ups and downs, he was the one she wanted by her side."
It was O'Neal who held Fawcett’s hand as she took her last breaths. Another close friend of Fawcett's said, "Ryan was the love of her life. I don't think she was happy without him. They fought and loved with a passion. It was never boring. They were electric together."
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O'Neal often remembers her. "There was never a day I didn't love her," he expressed. After her diagnosis, he slept in a cot by her side at St. John's Medical Center in Los Angeles. He always made her laugh. "The night before she died, he was talking and talking, leading up to the story of when he first met her. It was his way of telling her how much he loved her. She looked over at me and rolled her eyes, and then she smiled," recalled their friend Mela Murphy.
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Fawcett battled cancer for two and a half years. "It's a love story. I just don't know how to play this one. I won't know this world without her," O'Neal said, reports PEOPLE. Speaking about her condition, he recalled: "At about the halfway point in our trips the news started to get darker and darker and darker. The hope started to fade. But not for Farrah. She continued fighting. There was always courage there, and quiet dignity. Farrah never changed. I fell in love with her all over again because of how she handled this."
She took her hair loss in stride. "Her famous hair. I have it at home. She didn’t care. I rub her head. It’s kind of fun, actually, this great, tiny little head. How she carried all that hair I’ll never know. She doesn’t have a vanity about it," shared O'Neal.
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Her death left the Love Story star heartbroken and he is now dealing with his own cancer diagnosis. According to Express, he had planned to marry Fawcett in St John's Hospital, but the priest who arrived to oversee the ceremony ended up administering the last rites instead.
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"After the priest leaves, I lie down next to her, wrap my body around her to keep her warm, and then take her hand. I can feel a steady pulse... I caress her hand for hours. Her heart refuses to quit. I'm left alone with my love. I take her hand. I can still feel her pulse, but now it is fluttering. She's trying to let go. Her heartbeat slows, then disappears. On the morning of June 25, Farrah slips into eternal sleep," shared O'Neal. For him, out of sight did not mean out of mind. He has continued to carry memories of their love with him.
References:
https://people.com/tv/farrah-fawcett-ryan-oneal-says-there-was-never-day-i-didnt-love-her/
https://people.com/celebrity/ryan-oneals-heartbreak-over-critically-ill-farrah/
https://www.express.co.uk/celebrity-news/317199/Ryan-O-Neal-Farrah-Fawcett-died-in-my-arms
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo (L) by Express Newspapers / Photo (R) by Kevin Winters
