Ryan O’Neal says Farrah Fawcett will be proud of film chronicling her brave cancer battle

Film shows Fawcett as a fighter, friends say

LOS ANGELES — Farrah Fawcett expected that a video diary chronicling her fight against cancer would have a happy ending, friends Ryan O’Neal and Alana Stewart said Wednesday.

But even as her disease has progressed, they said, the former “Charlie’s Angels” star is keeping hold of hope.

“I know that Farrah hasn’t given up,” said Stewart, who met Fawcett in the 1970s in Los Angeles when they were young actresses from Texas looking for commercial work.

Stewart was part of the making of “Farrah’s Story,” airing Friday at 9 p.m. EDT on NBC, holding the camera as her longtime friend underwent treatment.

The diary will make clear to Fawcett’s fans that there’s more to her than glamorous good looks, O’Neal said.

“They’ll think they made the right choice years ago when they fell for her,” he said. “She’s a doll. She’s a beauty inside and out.”

O’Neal, who has a son with Fawcett and remained close to her after their long romantic relationship ended in the late 1990s, said he plans to watch “Farrah’s Story” with her at her Los Angeles home Friday.

Fawcett, 62, was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006. It has spread to her liver.

“She’s heavily medicated,” O’Neal said. “We’re going to take some of these medications down so she’s lucid and sharp to watch herself. I think she’ll take great pride in this,” he said.

That’s “on the one hand, and I don’t know on the other,” he said, his voice trailing off.

Trying to field questions about Fawcett and choking up at times, O’Neal described himself and Stewart as “two broken people.”

Fawcett is in a “very rocky place,” O’Neal said. “We put on a brave front, always, when we’re with her. She doesn’t know how scared we are.”

“Farrah’s Story” started out as a personal record, intended as a “success story” for family viewing, O’Neal said, and to keep track of her treatment.

“Somewhere along the line she got so many letters thanking her for her battle and courage and strength,” Stewart said. “She started to feel there must be a reason she got cancer. If she had cancer, maybe it was her responsibility to do something for others. That’s how the film evolved.”

“Farrah’s Story” will show her “incredible strength,” Stewart said. “Her big message to people is don’t give up, no matter what they say to you, keep fighting.”

That’s what Stewart has told Fawcett when the ill woman’s belief falters.

“She’s looked at me before and said, ‘Do you think I’m gonna make it?’ I look at her and say, ‘I always believe in miracles, you believe in miracles.’ … And it’s the truth. I do believe in miracles,” Stewart said.

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