When Farrah Fawcett died at age 62 on June 25, 2009, she did it in the arms of her longtime love Ryan O’Neal. Fawcett’s close friend Alana Stewart tells PEOPLE in a recent interview that the couple’s strong bond lasts even in death, confirming reports that the two are buried next to one another at Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles. Actress Stewart, 79, heads up The Farrah Fawcett Foundation, an organization launched by the late star, which raises money for cancer research and education. She says that O’Neal was always “incredibly supportive of the foundation.” “Even after his death, he’s giving us a gift this year for our annual gala,” Stewart adds of his financial contributions. Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories. The group’s annual gala — a Tex-Mex party held in Fawcett’s home state of Texas — will be held Oct. 24, 2024, and will feature a performance by Wynonna Judd and be co-chaired by Stewart, Dallas star Linda Gray and Fawcett’s Charlie’s Angels costar, Jaclyn Smith. As Stewart explains, O’Neal “was always very, very supportive of the foundation after Farrah died.” “I don’t think he ever really got over her dying,” she adds. “And now it’s sad because he’s gone, but I always think about them being together.” Fawcett and O’Neal fell in love when she was married to The Six Million Dollar Man star Lee Majors. Sparks flew after Majors asked O’Neal to check in on his wife while he was away filming. As O’Neal described of the couple’s first date to the Los Angeles Times: “We sat and kissed and kissed until our lips were bloody.” “I was so overwhelmed by this mental and physical attraction for him that I didn’t think about anything except what was happening right there,” Fawcett later told LIFE Magazine. After they began dating in 1979, Fawcett and O’Neal had a 17-year on-again, off-again relationship. They never married but their son, Redmond O’Neal, was born in 1985. The two broke up in 1997, living in separate homes but co-parenting their son, and then reconnected after O’Neal was diagnosed with leukemia in 2001. Stewart describes the couple’s home life as “normal,” saying, “To all the women that know her … she was just like a real girlfriend, an ordinary girlfriend, and that’s how she liked to be. She and Ryan, when they were home with their son and he was very little, she cooked the meals. And when she had to go away on location for something, because she was working a lot then, they would pack the whole family up and go.” “Her home life was a more normal life in that regard,” she adds. “It was just when she went out in public, people went crazy.” O’Neal remained by Fawcett’s side after she was diagnosed with anal cancer and until her death at 62 in 2009. He exclusively told PEOPLE 10 years after her death, that “there was never a day” he “didn’t love her.” The actor, who was Oscar-nominated for his role in the 1970 romance Love Story, died in December 2023 at age 82. “Even till the end, she was still fighting, and Ryan was there the whole time; from the time she was diagnosed with cancer, he was there,” Stewart tells PEOPLE of their strong bond. “And she basically died in his arms and I don’t think he was ever the same, because she was definitely the love of his life, and he was the love of her life.”
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