After Amy Winehouse died and everyone said all those thoughtful things about addiction (at least some people did, others remained clueless) I began to take a different view of it. It just seems freaking sad to me and so useless. This story in particular makes my heart hurt a little. Redmond O’Neal, who had to to attend his mom Farrah Fawcett’s funeral in handcuffs, was arrested on possession of heroin yesterday. He was in violation of probation for an earlier arrest for drugs and was sent to jail without bail.

Redmond O’Neal has another mug shot to add to his portfolio and RadarOnline.com has the latest.

The 26-year-old was arrested in Santa Monica, Calif. on Tuesday after he ran a red light and police found heroin in his car during a routine inspection.

“At approximately 8:45 a.m. a motor officer observed an argument at a store on Lincoln corner of Michigan,” a police spokesperson told RadarOnline.com. “O’Neal was one of those involved in the argument.

“The officer then watched as he got into his vehicle. He proceeded to go northbound on Lincoln before turning west bound on Olympic, it was at this time the officer observed him going through the red turn arrow.”

The spokesperson continued: “The officer stopped him for the traffic violation. A search of his vehicle was done and narcotics were recovered.”

O’Neal is currently being held without bail.

[From Radar Online]

I tried to review Redmond’s storied history with the law and the details were so complicated it was hard for me to figure out which arrest he was in violation of. Here’s a partial recap. He was arrested in September, 2008 along with his dad, Ryan O’Neal, when cops raided the home they shared, (as part of a probation investigation, natch) found meth, and charged them both with possession. (The Enquirer ran a follow up story claiming the two did drugs together regularly and that Ryan was incredibly abusive to his son. Another one of Ryan’s sons, Griffin, claimed on Larry King that his dad gave him cocaine when he was just 11.)

Redmond was ordered to rehab for meth possession for that charge while all Ryan had to do was attend some drug awareness classes. Redmond was arrested again in April, 2009 when he tried to bring heroin with him to visit a friend in jail. (This seems to be the charge he violated probation for with this latest arrest.) His mom Farrah died in June, 2009.

While on a 24 hour pass from court-ordered rehab in December 2009, Redmond used drugs. He was sent back to jail for 30 days, and then went back to rehab yet again, graduating from his court-appointed drug program in August, 2010. So the kid went to rehab many, many times after multiple arrests and he was supposedly clean last year.

Redmond’s mom Farrah left most of her $4.5 million estate to him, leaving nothing to her parasitic boyfriend, Ryan. So we have a young man who is a millionaire addict who lost his mom to cancer and has an abusive druggie for a dad. Maybe his siblings can reach out to him, but it doesn’t sound like he can be helped much at this point. Like Lilo, jail may be the best place for him. Oh and Redmond’s older half brother, Griffin, was hospitalized and released yesterday after a car accident in Escondido, CA. He seems to be ok now though.

Header photo is Ryan’s mug shot. Photos above are of Ryan and Redmond paying respects to Farrah on the one year anniversary of her death on June 25, 2010. Credit: Fame

Tori Spelling is promoting her third memoir, the idiotically named uncharted terriTORI. Part of that involves telling stories to the press that will get her the maximum amount of press coverage. Tori has been candid about her marriage problems and the emotional distance she’s feeling from her husband, Dean, as well as the fact that she’s afraid that Dean, who cheated on his wife with her, is going to cheat on her. (Tori was also cheating on her then-husband when she hooked up with Dean.) She’s also talked about her very low weight and tiny frame, blaming it on health problems and attempting to shame us for even noticing when she often brings up the topic herself.

Now Tori is telling a bizarre story about how she consulted a medium trying to contact her departed dad, but was allegedly contacted by the spirit of an actress from one of his hit television shows. Farrah Fawcett came through briefly from the other side, according to Tori, and gave her detailed information to pass on to her loved ones. Although she was disappointed that she couldn’t talk to her dad, Tori dutifully wrote all of “Farrah’s” messages down and sent a letter with the information to Fawcett’s ex, Ryan O’Neal. It sounds like the medium was much more familiar with Farrah’s story than with Tori’s dad, Aaron.

It’s almost been a year since Farrah Fawcett died on the morning of June 25, 2009, after a lengthy battle with cancer, and in a new interview, her former neighbor, Tori Spelling, told Access Hollywood that the blonde bombshell visited her from beyond during a psychic reading.

“I was talking to a medium,” Tori told Access Hollywood in an interview to promote her third memoir, “uncharted terriTORI,” which hit bookstores on Tuesday. “I was hoping my dad [‘Charlie’s’ Angels’ producer Aaron Spelling] would come through.”

Instead of hearing from her father, while sitting down with medium and talk show host John Edward, it was the former “Angel” Tori heard from.

“Farrah Fawcett came through in my reading loud and clear,” Tori continued. “It was really awkward for him as well. He’s like, ‘I have never had this happen.’”

Tori explained to Access that she knew Farrah for years – first through her dad and the actress’ work on “Charlie’s Angels,” then because they were neighbors, and also because the blonde bombshell appeared on Tori’s former VH1 show, “So NoTorious,” but she wasn’t entirely prepared for her psychic visit from the star.

“She wanted me to give a message to her family about how she was doing and what was going on and I’m like, ‘Great! She really picked the wrong person,’” Tori laughed.

“Non-confrontational me, what am I gonna do?” Tori continued. “So I’m sitting on that information — I’m happy to say it’s not in the book because it happened afterwards.”

However, Tori eventually did make a move and got in touch with Farrah’s loved ones.

“I actually wrote a letter to Ryan O’Neal and gave it to him so I was like, he’s either going to think I’m completely crazy or he’s going to say, ‘Wow! Some of this makes sense,’ because she gave very specific details of things to tell them,” she explained.

Tori also reached out to Farrah’s son, Redmond O’Neal, through his father.

“I did and I included that in the note to Ryan saying, ‘Please pass this on to Redmond… She really wanted him to know these things,’” Tori explained. “I haven’t heard from Ryan so I don’t know, you know, I’m hoping you know he understood what I was trying to say and doesn’t think I’m some loony.”

[From Access Hollywood]

I have friends who believe in spirit contact, and I’m respectful of it, but I’m a skeptic and find it all pretty hokey. You know that Tori just wanted to ask her dad where he keeps the treasure in that ginormous mansion Tori’s mom is trying to unload. Maybe if Tori had inherited a load of cash instead of the less than $1 million she received we wouldn’t be hearing from her so often. She’s got to hustle for her money, and that involves airing her personal problems on television, complaining about her weight, and visiting mediums to get material to talk about.

Tori is shown at a book signing in NY yesterday, 6/16/10. Credit: WENN.com

In the ongoing saga of Farrah Fawcett’s exclusion from the In Memoriam segment at the Oscars on Sunday, we finally have a somewhat better explanation and maybe even an apology from the Academy. We’ve heard previous excuses from the Academy’s executive director and a separate spokesperson that amounted to “we don’t have enough time and can’t include everyone.” In light of the outrage over Farrah’s omission, executive director Bruce Davis is offering the reasoning behind the decision – Farrah was known more as a television actress and there were a lot of important people in the industry who passed last year. What’s more is that Michael Jackson was supposedly included because he was the star of the popular documentary This is It, released posthumously. That excuse is a little weak.

The executive director of the film academy said Tuesday that Farrah Fawcett wasn’t included in the Academy Awards’ In Memoriam segment because the actress was better known as a TV star.

It was a difficult decision for the committee that assembles the segment to omit Fawcett, said Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences executive director Bruce Davis, who added that he’s not surprised some fans and family members are upset.

Fawcett’s family issued a statement through a publicist Tuesday saying they were “deeply saddened” and “bereft with this exclusion of such an international icon who inspired so many for so many reasons.”

Davis said the academy committee debated about including Fawcett and Gene Barry, a longtime TV actor who died in December at age 90, in the memorial segment but ultimately omitted both.

Davis and his colleagues thought that while the two actors appeared in movies, they were better known for their “remarkable television work” and would be more appropriately honored by the television academy at the Emmy Awards.

The group “was kind of figuring that probably the Farrah Fawcett and Gene Barry omissions would be the ones we’d get the most comments on,” he said. He acknowledged that he “did get one letter about Miss Fawcett.”

The academy director said “an unusual number of extremely distinguished screenwriters” died this year, and the academy tried to honor many of them in the short memorial segment.

“In every category, you’re going to miss some wonderful people,” said Davis, who has helped assemble Oscar’s In Memoriam montage since it began in 1993.

When asked why Michael Jackson was included when actors were left out, Davis explained that Jackson had appeared in a popular theatrical film recently. Fawcett and Jackson both died on June 25.

“Think of all the blogging we would have gotten if we had left him out!” he said.

Still, he said he understands that the Fawcett and Barry omissions sting.

“There’s nothing you can say to people, particularly to family members, within a day or two of the show that helps at all,” Davis said. “They tend to be surprised and hurt, and we understand that and we’re sorry for it.”

[From Huffington Post]

I was willing to give these idiots the benefit of the doubt until the guy complained about bloggers. Now that everyone is on Facebook and Twitter there’s not much difference between “bloggers” and the opinion of the general public. This guy is trying to separate out the naysayers so that he doesn’t have to take criticism of the Oscars broadcast seriously. He also seems to be distancing himself from offering a sincere apology by saying “there’s nothing you can say” to grieving family anyway. He did say “we’re sorry” at least, even if it sounded half-hearted.

The Academy could have just sucked it up and admitted they were wrong to omit Farrah, but instead they continue to defend their decision. The thing that really sucks is that they managed to boost ratings despite a sub-par show by just adding five more films in the Best Picture category. Now they can continue to churn out a boring, industry-specific show year after year and dismiss legitimate complaints. It’s like they’re saying “this is the way we do it and we’re never going to change.” With this kind of attitude, I doubt that they’ll do even a marginally better job with either the In Memoriam broadcast or the long super boring ceremony next year.

Ryan O’Neal gave a long interview to Radar Online in which he made it very clear how he felt about the Academy’s seemingly deliberate decision to exclude his deceased partner, Farrah Fawcett, from the in memoriam clip at Sunday’s Oscar ceremony. Fawcett and several other high profile celebrities who passed away last year were omitted, most notably Bea Arthur, (star of Golden Girls and Mame, I loved that movie!) and I’ve since heard about journalist Dominick Dunne and Tonight Show Host Ed McMahon also being forgotten. The Academy has issued several statements that amount to “we can’t fit everyone in, that’s the way it is,” and it sounds like an arrogant response from an organization that expects the public to sit through over three hours of industry back-slapping year after year. (Sadly, the ratings are up this year despite the relative lack of entertainment value in this year’s ceremony, especially compared to last year when Hugh Jackman hosted. You just know that they’re going to use that as a mandate to continue the boring, overlong status quo.)

O’Neal calls Farrah’s omission “a terrible decision” and “very hurtful,” noting that Farrah was a longterm member of the Academy. He says that he’s trying to get some sort of response from the Academy as to why the decision was made:

a“It was a terrible decision and very hurtful,” O’Neal said. “Farrah was a member of the Academy for over 40 years and we could not believe she did not get a mention.” Patrick Swayze, Michael Jackson and Brittany Murphy were included in the segment.

O’Neal also revealed that he and daughter Tatum O’Neal- who watched the ceremony together- intend to write a letter of protest.

“Both Tatum and I were very upset and we intend to write a letter to the Academy to try and get an explanation for this oversight on their behalf.”

RadarOnline.com spoke to Lesle Unger, a rep for the Academy, shortly after the awards ended. She explained that “there are many angles that are looked at as to who to include and unfortunately we don’t include everyone.”

Bruce Davis, the executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said days before that the segment was the most difficult to produce since they had to whittle over a hundred names down to around thirty.

O’Neal scoffed at the notion that Fawcett would not make that final cut: “They gave mentions to sound guys and other writers and without being disrespectful, Farrah Fawcett was an icon and a household name.

“Quite frankly, we were stunned at the decision not to include her in the tribute and I feel that the Academy should be scolded for that, everyone was shocked.”

[From Radar Online]

O’Neal was more reserved in his official statement. His rep told People that “There is no comment other than we were disappointed that she was not included.” Other celebrities tweeted that Farrah’s omission was a shame, including legendary critic Roger Ebert, who wrote “No Farrah Fawcett in the memorial tribute? Major fail,” and Jane Fonda, who tweeted “And where was Farrah Fawcett? She should have been included #oscars #FAIL.” As E! Online reports, The Academy is not likely to ever apologize. Farrah’s friend Craig Nevius says that the Academy is just going to wait and let this die down. “I think it would be very big of them to own up to the mistake, but I also think it might set a dangerous precedent for them, which is why they probably won’t do it.” Personally I would rather see a couple more minutes of memorial clips than sit through any of the technical awards, like sound editing and mixing, but as I said yesterday they’re not going to cut any of that. The Academy is way out of of touch.

James Taylor played the Beatles hit “In My Life” to the in memoriam clip at the Oscars last night. It included several directors, producers, actors, cinematographers and executives I’d never heard of who no doubt made an impact in the industry. There was even a public relations guy, writers, and a sound editor. Michael Jackson was included, as were other famous losses like Natasha Richardson, Brittany Murphy, and David Carradine. Two actresses we lost last year were notably absent, though: Bea Arthur and Farrah Fawcett. I don’t understand how they could include Michael Jackson but “forget” Farrah Fawcett, who died on the same day. Both Farrah and Bea were involved in films, as Michael K at D-Listed points out. Plus they included Michael Jackson and it’s not like he was known for much more than his music. The people responsible for the Oscars admit that they have to cut people due to time and that their choices aren’t necessarily popular.

RadarOnline.com caught up with Academy Awards rep Leslie Unger after the show who said, “It is highly unlikely that we forgot about Farrah Fawcett but we unfortunately don’t include everyone each year.” She added: “There are many angles that are looked at as to who to include and unfortunately we don’t include everyone.”…

Bruce Davis, the executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said days before the show that producing the segment is the toughest to do and his committee always has to make some tough cuts.

“It is the single most troubling element of the Oscar show every year,” he said. “Because more people die each year than can possibly be included in that segment.” His office keeps a running list of those who have passed away since last year’s segments which he and a small committee whittle down from more than 100 names to about 30. “You are dropping people who the public knows. It’s just not comfortable.”

[From Radar Online]

Well now that we’ve seen the overlong Oscars and heard their explanation for cutting people from the memorial segment we know that their priority is not the audience. They have their own agenda and will honor the people they see fit. I would much rather have seen a few more moments of memorial clips than all of the industry specific awards like costume design, makeup, sound editing and sound mixing. They’re never going to cut those, but they’ll easily cut beloved actors and actresses from the memorial clip in order to save time. Next year there will be even less people willing to sit through that bloated ceremony.

Oh, and another thing, I’m having trouble finding videos of the Oscars because they’re being pulled due to copyright claims. And Oscar.com only offers a highlight video, backstage “thank you” cam, and red carpet footage.

Redmond O’Neal, the troubled son of Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O’Neal, is back in a detention center after getting busted for using drugs. Redmond had just returned to Impact, his court-ordered, in-patient rehab treatment center, when it became obvious that he’d been using while out on a 24-hour pass. Sadly, Redmond had received the 24-hour pass from rehab for good behavior. It didn’t take him long at all to blow it, and now a judge has ordered him back to jail for violating the terms of his probation.

Redmond O’Neal was arrested again on drug-related charges while on a 24-hour pass from drug rehab, RadarOnline.com has learned exclusively.

The son of Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O’Neal was taken into custody on Dec. 29.

He is in court Tuesday for a status update on his rehab. Now he’s facing up to six years in prison because his latest arrest violates probation terms of a previous drug offense.

Redmond had been clean for six months after battling drug problems for years.

When Redmond returned to Impact, a drug and alcohol treatment center, after his 24-hour pass, the staff noticed he seemed altered.

This was his first 24-hour family pass out of the facility.

Redmond was ordered into rehab by a judge because of his many previous offenses.

A judge Tuesday ordered O’Neal back to Wayside Detention Center for at least thirty days, where he will focus on relapse prevention following his December 29th arrest involving drugs.

Wearing jailhouse blues, O’Neal appeared in court Tuesday morning before Judge Michael Tynan for a status update on his rehab.

Prior to his latest arrest, Redmond had been clean for six months after battling drug problems for years.

As Redmond appeared in court on Tuesday, Judge Tynan read a letter that O’Neal had written the judge. The letter appeared to be at least 4 pages front and back. “I read a rather thoughtful letter,” the judge said. Tynan said he “wouldn’t go into the family stuff in the letter, but you (Redmond) mention pride and how proud your family, friends, and girlfriend are of you and then you let them down.”

Tynan said that “home” is the trigger for Redmond’s recent relapse. “You are going to stay somewhere at some point. Recovery isn’t a walk in the park, you have a responsibility to yourself to stay sober, not your family.” Redmond said, “I have to go somewhere on my own.”

He’s now facing up to six years in prison because his latest arrest violates probation terms of a previous drug offense.

O’Neal’s next appearance in front of Judge Tynan will be on February 2nd.

[From RadarOnline]

I think the judge hit the nail right on the head when he said “home is a trigger,” especially since Redmond shares a home with his druggie dad, Ryan O’Neal. I think Redmond would have had a better chance at a clean life if he’d had a feral cat for a dad instead of this jerk-off. Without his mother in his life, this kid is even more lost than ever. If you recall, Ryan was busted along with Redmond last year, shortly before Farrah’s death – but somehow, dad walked away scott-free. I don’t think it’s any coincidence at all that the minute Redmond goes home, he is able to get his hands on some drugs. The only shot this kid has is to get as far away from his dad as possible.

Redmond 2008 mugshot & Redman & Ryan O’Neal in court on November 13, 2008, credit: PCNphoto.com

Farrah Fawcett has left longtime boyfriend Ryan O’Neal out of her will. The late actress left a majority of her estate to the couple’s troubled son, Redmond, as well as her father and her ex-lover, Greg Lott. It’s rumored that Farrah and Lott had reconnected near the end of her life, but that Ryan was trying to keep them apart. If you recall, all of Ryan O’Neal’s children- Redmond, Tatum and Griffin- slammed the actor publicly after Farrah’s passing, claiming that the only reason he came back to Farrah in the end was because he was hoping to be included in her will. Perhaps Farrah knew that – and made sure he wasn’t.

Farrah Fawcett left $4.5 million to her son Redmond, $100,000 to an ex-lover and nothing to long-time love Ryan O’Neal and the other cast of characters who fought over her cancer documentary during the star’s final days.

RadarOnline.com has exclusively obtained a copy of Farrah’s will and it reveals that she did not get her final wish – to die at home.

The will was updated for the final time on August 9th, 2007. Farrah died from anal cancer on June 25, 2009 at age 62.

In the will Farrah made clear that she wanted to die at home.

In paragraph 5.2 a the will states: “”Settlor (Farrah) declares that she wishes to remain at home for as long as possible during any period of illness or incapacity and to die at home.”

The former Charlie’s Angel star passed away at St. John’s hospital in Santa Monica, California.

In addition to leaving the bulk of her fortune to son Redmond, the official documents reveal Farrah left $500,000 to her nephew Greg Walls, $500,000 to her father James and $100,000 to ex-lover Greg Lott.

Ryan O’Neal, Craig Nevius and Alana Hamilton all were not named in the will. Alana filmed much of Farrah’s final documentary and wants to release a part two. Ryan claimed he asked Farrah to marry him in her final days and made several tearful TV appearances.

Nevius claimed that O’Neal and Hamilton pushed him out of Farrah’s cancer documentary in her final days.

Lott spent the past few months claiming to various media outlets
that he was Farrah’s secret boyfriend. He told a British newspaper he last spoke to her April 9 and says that Ryan banned him from seeing her.

[From Radar]

In an August 2009 Vanity Fair article, Redmond has this to say about his father: “All those crocodile tears! My dad’s only goal was to make sure he would be in the will. It was so disgustingly transparent as soon as he found out she was terminal. I consider him a vulture presiding over a carcass. Ryan thought he was going to get everything.”

This is also the article where Ryan tries to excuse cheating on Farrah with a girl young enough to be his daughter by blaming it on Farrah having menopause! God, he’s a jackass. I’m happy he didn’t get a dime of Farrah’s money, but I do wonder if giving millions of dollars to a junkie doing jail time was such a good idea. Perhaps a cancer research charity would have been a better way to go. I know Redmond is only 24, but he kind of seems like a lost cause at this point. I predict he’ll burn through that money in a year. But hey, it was Farrah’s final wish, and since she didn’t get to die at home like she wanted, her other requests should be granted. The only hope for this kid is to stay as far away from his father as possible.

The Daily Mail reports that Griffin O’Neal, Ryan O’Neal’s son with his first wife, dropped some bombshells about his troubled childhood on Larry King Live last night. One of the most shocking claims, and the one the Mail leads with, is that Ryan gave Griffin cocaine when he was just 11 years old. This quote isn’t the transcript of the interview on CNN’s website, but it’s in the podcast around the 14:00 minute mark, and The Daily Mail gets the quotes right:

Ryan O’Neal’s eldest son Griffin claims his father destroyed his life by giving him cocaine when he was just 11.

The actor said O’Neal’s party lifestyle encouraged him to take drugs, which left him and his siblings battling lifelong addictions.

In an interview with US chat show host Larry King, 45-year-old Griffin said: ‘I have had a lifetime of hellacious nights crying, staying up too late, wondering what I did to my life. It destroyed me. It wasted many, many years of my life.

‘I was 11 years old when he gave me cocaine and said we are going to see a long movie called Barry Lyndon.

‘He said “It is a very long movie. Maybe this will help you”. I was 11. I could never, never ever do that to my child.’

Griffin, O’Neal’s son from his first marriage to Joanna Moore, is estranged from his father and was barred from attending stepmother Farrah Fawcett’s funeral last month.

He also claims to have doubts that his father’s public outpouring of grief was genuine.

‘All those crocodile tears! My dad’s only goal was to make sure he would be in the will,’ Griffin said.
‘It was so disgustingly transparent as soon as he found out she was terminal. I consider him a vulture presiding over a carcass.’

He also claimed O’Neal was responsible for the drug problems of his sister Tatum and half-brother Redmond, who inherited the bulk of his mother’s £3.65million estate.
Redmond, 24, has battled drug and alcohol addiction for most of his life and is currently in a Los Angeles prison for drugs offences.

Tatum O’Neal has also fought substance abuse and last year was arrested for buying drugs on the street.

The 45-year-old, whose mother, Joanna Cook Moore, died from lung cancer in 1997, has since insisted that she is clean.

Griffin said: ‘Redmond hung out with Ryan a lot, because Ryan allowed the drug use. He allowed the drug use in the house.

‘They party together. They were both arrested. My dad had more dope on him than Redmond did.

‘And that was one of the reasons me and my dad fought. I said, “You know what? You are killing your son. I don’t think you know what you’re doing”.’

[From The Daily Mail]

Griffin also talks about the terrible fight he had with his dad Ryan in 2007, in which his father stabbed him with a fireplace poker, slashed his eight and a half months pregnant wife in the face with it, and tried to shoot him. He says he hasn’t talked to his dad since and wasn’t able to visit Farrah, who he considered like a step mother, since the day before that incident. Griffin and Ryan could have potentially have run into each other at Farrah’s funeral, but Griffin was turned away after driving 300 miles to get there.

In a portrait of severe family dysfunction and addiction, Griffin says that he tried in vain to save his younger 1/2 brother, Redmond, from his father. Ryan regularly did drugs with Redmond and gave him money to enable his habit. Redmond and Ryan were both arrested for meth possession last September, and Redmond remains in jail. Not only was Ryan a despicable father, claims Griffin, he was also a terrible boyfriend. Griffin says that Ryan was around Farrah in her final months primarily because he wanted a piece of her estate. Farrah loved him, but never wanted to marry Ryan as he claimed, according to Griffin. Ryan regularly cheated on Farrah when she was healthy and when she was sick. She knew all about his infidelity and even walked in on him once with another woman.

Let’s hope that when Redmond gets out of jail he’ll go live with either Griffin and his family or with his half sister, Tatum. Griffin says he’s been sober for four years and couldn’t be happier with his wife and two year-old son. You can tell he cares about his brother and he said he visited Redmond in jail a couple of weeks ago. If Redmond goes back to live with Ryan it will undoubtedly be more of the same for him, and by Griffin’s account that’s just awful.

Griffin, his wife and youngest son are shown outside Farrah Fawcett’s funeral on 7/1/09, where they were turned away. Credit: Juan Rico/Fame Pictures

Vanity Fair’s September issue will be a dual cover – I don’t know if they’re going to issue two different magazines with two different covers, or if they’re going to put Farrah Fawcett on one side, and Michael Jackson on the other. The photos VF chose are lovely, for both stars, and the images mimic the other. Black-and-white photographs of Michael holding himself, circa 1989, then Farrah naked, embracing herself, circa 1976.

Vanity Fair has released an excerpt from Leslie Bennetts’ sort-of tribute to Farrah, “Beautiful People, Ugly Choices”. It doesn’t really seem so much a tribute as a “tell-all” about Farrah and Ryan O’Neal, with a lot of stories about drug usage, cancer, menopause and infidelity. Leslie Bennets even calls Farrah and Ryan “the Angelina and Brad of their day—dazzling sex symbol meets Hollywood hunk—until their stars were tarnished by drugs, infidelity, and family pathology.” Yikes. Here are some of the excerpts from the piece:

The truth was that Fawcett had always been more complicated than the clichés, the realities of her life far darker than the sunny image she projected. The gap between her public image and private reality was wide: “I’m always more comfortable when I have on hardly any make-up, my hair is brown and I’m very unattractive,” she said.

The work that brought her solace in later years was a love of art that had nothing to do with fame, a private passion that inspired her to sculpt female nudes with an obsessiveness that seemed like an attempt to understand the world’s fascination with her own body. The documentary [Farrah’s World] that became her last appearance violated every rule of Hollywood image-making; no other star had ever exposed herself to a viewing audience while moaning in pain, vomiting, and losing her famous hair to chemotherapy. But Fawcett’s final triumph was to integrate the public and the private at long last, imbuing her death with a larger meaning and finding redemption in baring her head along with her soul.

The Break-up: O’Neal cites several reasons for his breakup with Fawcett, starting with menopause. “I believe Farrah was going through some kind of life change,” he says. “I didn’t have a change of life. I was always a jerk. But they’re hard work, these divas; I was sick of it, and I was unappreciated. I just don’t think she liked me very much. So I excused myself, and I was lucky enough to meet this young girl. She was more a daughter to me than a lover, and my own daughter had flown the coop, so here was this replacement.”

Leslie Stefanson, a beautiful actress less than half his age, may have been a daughter substitute, but she and O’Neal were in bed together at his Malibu home when Fawcett made a surprise Valentine’s Day visit and walked in on them. “It was terrible,” O’Neal says. “I didn’t expect to see her down there. I tried to put my pants on, but I put both legs in one hole.”

Ryan being a “hopeless father”: “I had just put the casket in the hearse and I was watching it drive away when a beautiful blonde woman comes up and embraces me,” Ryan told me. “I said to her, ‘You have a drink on you? You have a car?’ She said, ‘Daddy, it’s me—Tatum!’ I was just trying to be funny with a strange Swedish woman, and it’s my daughter. It’s so sick.”

“That’s our relationship in a nutshell,” Tatum said when I asked her about it. “You make of it what you will.” She sighed. “It had been a few years since we’d seen each other, and he was always a ladies’ man, a bon vivant.”

[From Vanity Fair]

Yikes, Ryan hit on his daughter. That does sum up their relationship, doesn’t it? But it was certainly nice that Tatum came to Farrah’s funeral – the two women had a famously rocky relationship. Well done, Tatum.

As far as the Michael Jackson cover story, I’ve only skimmed it. I’m sure there are some juicy stories and never-before-told stories, but I think the Michael Jackson news has jumped the shark. Larry King won’t let anything go, and I’m so tired of seeing all of Michael’s sycophants now making the rounds on cable and network news. Here’s the excerpt from the Michael Jackson story, “The Boy Who Would Be King”, if you’re not too tired of this stuff.

Vanity Fair covers via CoverAwards. Header image is supposedly circa 1991. Credit: WENN.com

Farrah Fawcett’s funeral program. Credit: Fame Pictures. Note: We do not run photos of funerals that are not open to the public

A private funeral service was held yesterday in LA for Farrah Fawcett, the beloved actress and icon who died from cancer last Thursday at the age of 62. Farrah’s longterm partner, Ryan O’Neal, and her best friend, Alana Stewart, were by her bedside in the hospital when she passed and both paid loving tribute at her funeral. Farrah’s son, Redmond O’Neal was granted a brief leave from jail to attend his mother’s funeral, where he was a pallbearer.

US Weekly’s details of the service are a little heartbreaking and it’s hard to read the touching poem from funeral program and think about this dear woman without getting choked up:

A private funeral was held Tuesday at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles for actress Farrah Fawcett, who died June 25 after a long battle with cancer.

Her longtime partner Ryan O’Neal and best friend Alana Stewart both wore black as they arrived at the Roman Catholic cathedral around 4 p.m. PST for the private service.

Her former Charlie’s Angels costars, Kate Jackson, Jaclyn Smith and Cheryl Ladd (who replaced Fawcett on the hit 70s show) also attended, as well as actor Ernie Hudson and Garry Shandling. E! News reports model Cheryl Tiegs, novelist Jackie Collins, Dynasty star Joan Collins and Fawcett’s ex Lee Majors, with whom she recently reconnected after more than two decades of silence, attended as well.

See Us’ photo tribute to other stars who have died too soon

Along with dad O’Neal, Fawcett’s son Redmond, 24 – who was allowed to leave jail (where he is serving a sentence for drug-related charges) to attend the service – helped carry her casket, covered in yellow and orange flowers, inside the funeral home.

The program featured a photograph of Fawcett, in a sequined dress, smiling. Inside, the James Joyce poem “At That Hour” was featured:

Play on, invisible harps, unto Love,
Whose way in heaven is aglow
At that hour when soft lights come and go,
Soft sweet music in the air above
And in the earth below.

According to the program, the service opened with an “Amazing Grace” procession.

Redmond then gave the service’s first reading, with O’Neal next reading the 23rd Psalm.

The Richard Marx-Linda Thompson song “To Where You Are” played before Alana Stewart and Fawcett’s physician, Dr. Lawrence Piro, gave eulogies.

Fawcett passed away at age 62 at Saint John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, Calif., last Thursday — just hours before Michael Jackson. Fawcett was with O’Neal, Stewart and Piro at the time of her death.

“Although this is an extremely difficult time for her family and friends, we take comfort in the beautiful times that we shared with Farrah over the years and the knowledge that her life brought joy to so many people around the world,” O’Neal told Us after Fawcett’s death.

[From US Weekly]

While many people are worried that Farrah’s passing hasn’t received enough press in the wake of Michael Jackson’s unexpected death, the tributes are pouring in for her. People loved Farrah and only have kind, effusive words for what a wonderful woman she was and how she touched them. Farrah faced her illness as she faced life – with determination, strength and grace. By letting us see some of her final moments, she showed the public that our decades-long fascination with her was based on so much more than her supernatural beauty.

Bless you, Farrah. I’m not a religious person and most days I’m not sure what I believe, but I hope you’re in a better place now. You fought a long, hard battle and inspired so many people.