Farrah Fawcett And Ryan O’Neal’s Love Endured For 30 Years, But Their Romance Had A Tragic Ending

After Ryan O'Neal passed away aged 82 in December 2023, grieving fans started sharing memories of his long love affair with Charlie’s Angels' Farrah Fawcett. He was the movie star who seemingly had it all. She was the most popular pin-up, with her famous red swimsuit poster finding a place on millions of bedroom walls. They enjoyed a tumultuous 30 years together... but, unfortunately, that romance came to a tragic end.

A star with regret

Ryan O’Neal made a name for himself in the 1960s and ’70s. He rose to fame on the popular soap opera Peyton Place and earned an Oscar nomination for 1970’s Love Story. Female fans especially seemed to love him...

Yet O’Neal’s romantic life was a complicated one. By 1974, the star had been married and divorced twice. In later years, he also admitted to the media that he had some big regrets concerning his relationship with Fawcett.

Close-knit dating circle

When O’Neal and Fawcett first met, the actress was already married to Lee Majors. And while Fawcett and Majors had begun a trial separation in 1979, it still shocked the Six Million Dollar Man star when his estranged wife began dating a friend of his.

Majors and O'Neal became friends in the 1960s when they were both single. They reconnected in 1979 while Majors and Fawcett were separated. "I thought we were once again quite close," Majors told People in 1980.

"Just checking in"

They got so friendly again that O'Neal asked Majors to keep an eye on his daughter Tatum while he was out of town. "I told Ryan not to worry. I'd take her out to dinner, phone her, and look after her," Majors said. But then Majors asked O'Neal if he'd check up on his wife...

"I thought she might be lonely and could use the same kind of companionship," Majors said. He didn’t expect that his buddy would “[make] a play” for her. “They got all serious, and I couldn’t believe it,” Majors explained.

Burning bridges

This naturally spelled the end of the Majors-O’Neal friendship. “I called [O’Neal] and asked him to lay off a bit,” Majors told People. “‘I can’t,’ he told me. ‘I really love her.’ So, I said, ‘Okay, buddy, if that’s the way you feel.’ I haven’t spoken with him since.”

Of Fawcett, Majors said, "She's determined to find her own way and her own answers now." Until the divorce in 1982, Fawcett remained Majors’ wife only in name. She and O'Neal were very much the It couple.