Reported by the Daily UK
Trembling with shock, Farrah Fawcett walked out of the St John's Health Centre near her home in Beverly Hills and pulled out her mobile phone.
Reeling from the devastating revelation that she had intestinal cancer, she dialled the first number that came into her head.
That call, a week ago, was not to her 90-year-old father, Jim, nor her son Redmond, 21, or one of her many supportive girlfriends. It was to Ryan O'Neal, the man she has loved - and fought with - for more than a quarter of a century. Even by Hollywood's notoriously dysfunctional standards, the troubled relationship between the Charlie's Angels beauty and the suave star of Love Story has been notably turbulent.
In an exclusive interview with The Mail on Sunday, Ryan said: "We've had our ups and downs, but I was the first person she called when she was diagnosed. I love her, I've loved her for 25 years, and she knows that."
"Farrah is a fighter. The first thing she said to me was, "I've got cancer." The second thing she said was, "I'm going to beat this"."
"She had been complaining of feeling tired all the time, but the cancer diagnosis was a complete shock to both of us. She's here at my house now and that's where she will stay. She's feeling bad today. She's come down with a cold, maybe because her immune system is down. She doesn't want to talk to anyone right now."
Ryan, who himself was diagnosed with chronic myelogenous leukaemia in 2001 - a disease now in remission but for which he still takes daily medication - insists he will be by Farrah's side throughout her treatment.
He confirmed that tomorrow she will begin a course of chemotherapy at the City of Hope Hospital in Los Angeles, one of the world's leading cancer treatment centres. Doctors hope to shrink the malignant tumour in her lower intestine, which is about the size of two strawberries, and then remove it.
According to the American Cancer Society, the five-year survival rate for women diagnosed with intestinal cancer is 70 per cent and, according to Ryan, Farrah sees that as a cause for hope. He said: "She's very positive that the treatment will work. I never had chemo, they treated my leukaemia with drugs, but we both know she's got tough times ahead and I will be there for her.
"She knows the chemo will be hard, but the City of Hope has the best doctors and it's amazing what they can do these days. We're both feeling positive - and beating an illness like cancer is about mind over matter.