Following his death on Dec. 8 at the age of 82, it was reported that Ryan O’Neal would be buried next to Farrah Fawcett in Westwood Village Memorial Park. But, according to a source close to Fawcett who spoke to the New York Post, Fawcett did not want to be buried with him, and actually, did not want to be buried in the Los Angeles cemetery at all. While Fawcett and O’Neal had a lengthy relationship, sources also claimed that it wasn’t what it seemed toward the end of the Charlie’s Angels star’s life.
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“She never wanted a burial or a monument where people could come gawk at her,” Greg Lott, who is described as Fawcett’s college sweetheart, told the New York Post. He further claimed, “Ryan created this narrative like it was this big love story and [Ryan and his lawyers] took over her life at the end, sedating her and forging documents.”
Craig Nevius, a friend of Fawcett’s, who also produced the reality show Chasing Farrah and documentary Farrah’s Story, shared a similar claim about O’Neal taking advantage of Fawcett and having her sign legal documents that weren’t in her best interest prior to her death from anal cancer in 2009 at age 62.
“I don’t think he had the authority to decide that she would be buried and him later with her—but that’s clearly what he did,” Nevius said. “It’s been so bizarre to see her name at the top of this big gravestone with nothing on the bottom. My guess is that his name will be on there soon, with the words ‘Love Story.'” (O’Neal is remembered for starring in the 1970 romance Love Story with Ali MacGraw.)
According to Entertainment Tonight, O’Neal and Fawcett began dating in 1979. They welcomed a son, Redmond O’Neal, in 1985. They remained together until 1997 when Fawcett caught O’Neal cheating on her. The two reportedly got back together in 2001 when O’Neal was diagnosed with leukemia. Then, they stayed together through Fawcett’s 2006’s cancer diagnosis. O’Neal claimed that she had agreed to marry him just prior to her death.
Nevius told a different story to the New York Post. “In spite of what has been said, they were really not together in the last years of her life,” he said. “He was like an ex-husband. He was around. She was sort of stuck with him because of their son.”
Meanwhile, Alana Stewart, who was a friend of Fawcett’s said of O’Neal, “He and Farrah loved each other deeply. She died in his arms and she was there for him when he had leukemia. I saw their love as this great love story. Sure it had its dark moments. he could be volatile. But Ryan could also be the sweetest, most generous, funniest guy in the world.”
The New York Post article also details O’Neal’s relationships with his children and their tumultuous lives. Redmond is currently imprisoned at a state hospital. Tatum O’Neal, who has publicly documented her own up-and-down relationship with her father also did not attend his funeral, nor did Griffin O’Neal, who—along with Tatum—O’Neal welcomed with his first wife, Joanna Moore. The only of his four children to attend was Patrick O’Neal, the actor’s son with his second wife, Leigh Taylor-Young.
Griffin, who had been estranged from O’Neal for 17 years following a violent fight, quoted Love Story to the New York Post and said, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry—and Ryan never did, to anyone.” He added of his siblings, “I wish them all well, I really do. But Ryan was not the easiest father. He was stubborn. All those years, he never reached out once.”
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