What's the true story of Farrah Fawcett's ditzy, spaced-out Letterman performance?

Dear God that wig. I assume she was sick then.

Meth.

I'm thinking that's how she spent her last days, but usually there would have been someone to sober her up and or take away the pills. She was a druggie and lousy mother.

Xanax and Good Wine

She self-medicated. Dave was notorious for treating female guests like shit. Teri Garr was one of the few guests that successfully dealt with that abuse.

[R4] She's far too jittery for those substances to be the explanation. I've known many people on meth and she shares their behaviors - her mind is racing, she can't articulate what she means, she's lost any sense of how she's being perceived. Trainwreck.

The anal cancer had already spread to her brain.

It was the fentanyl lollipop she had up her ass for the cancer pain.

Ryan O'Neal admitted that he and his family were her downfall. They were heavily into drugs and she got into drugs because of them. She should have stayed married to Lee Majors and had a few kids with him. She'd probably still be alive. Oh, well.

This was well before her cancer.

Today is actually her birthday! She was born 74 years ago - February 2, 1947.

She was never known for her intellect. She might have been under the influence of something or dealing with residual issues from previous use. And menopause wasn’t doing her any cognitive favors.

The true story, OP, is she was a spaced-out ditz.

By this point her face had taken on a sad, haunted look that the smile couldn't hide. She was still a gorgeous, if older, woman but there's a pain etched on her face that's hard to accept remembering her the way she was. Very sad. She had it all at one point.

Her butt was itching, for some reason.

[R11] She was actually a very talented artist and therefore quite intelligent. She was a far more talented artist than actress.

I always felt bad for Farrah as she got older. Despite being known for her incredible beauty as a young woman and proving her talent following Charlie’s Angels, she was judged harshly for getting older (and looking older). Plus, I don’t think Ryan O’Neal was the easiest man to live with. Add in the huge drug problems with her son and her cancer battle… There were rumours she also had drug issues, but they were never substantiated. She dealt with a lot of negative stuff it seemed in the 1990s and beyond.

She is missed.

She didn't know how to age gracefully. But few women in Hollywood do.

Just saw this picture of her from high school today. Very pretty!

I remember Rosie O'Donnell saying on her old Sirius XM radio show that she had two guests on The Rosie O'Donnell Show who were visibly on drugs -- and Farrah was one of them. Rosie said she had white powder in her nostril and under her nose during her interview.

She probably could have survived her bout had she relied on traditional western treatments rather than the new agey shit she went with.

[R19] Interesting. I suspect Farrah was doing meth and not cocaine. With coke it's easier to maintain an aura of normalcy of affect, which is not so with meth. Countless celebrities have gone on-camera high on coke with no one the wiser. Meth makes people seem crazy.

My mom went to high school with her. Said she wasn't a mean girl but was popular.

Prescription and non-prescription drugs, and lack of IQ.

[R23] I think we already established that she was quite intelligent. Her public persona was an act.

I agree with the poster who said that it was probably the O’Neal family that got her involved with drugs. Everyone in that household (Ryan, Tatum, Griffin, Redmond) has had their drug problem revealed.

R15 She was a rather talented artist. She seemed like a sweet soul, until she got mixed up with Ryan O'Neal.

R19 Did she say who the other guest was?

Vintage gossip

"Fawcett, Farrah. Cokehead. Prima donna wanna-be. Slut during her early years as an actress. Kleptomaniac. Married & divorced Lee Majors. Linked with Robert Downey, Jr., Ryan O'Neal, Vincent Van Patten, Burt Reynolds, and Sylvester Stallone."

Looked like she took some anxiety medication. She seemed nervous and uncomfortable while trying to be funny. Dave seemed gleeful that the interview is turning into a trainwreck.

Her son is criminally insane.

"She was still a gorgeous, if older, woman but there's a pain etched on her face..."

The pain etched on her face was bad plastic surgery.

"She was actually a very talented artist and therefore quite intelligent"

That doesn't mean she read or knew what was going on in the world, was sophisticated, discriminating, involved - in thought and/or action - in anything besides herself. I'd say she was quite dumb with her life and career. It's sad, but I never heard an intelligently composed sentence out of her.

Her son is a mess...very sad.

I didn’t watch Letterman’s CBS show but was a faithful viewer of Late Night with David Letterman in the 80s. My favorite interview he did was with Cher. Does anyone remember that one?

Stay on topic, R33!

[R31] You can't define what "intelligent" is based on her grasp of current affairs and/or the kind of flowery language you like. Her grasp of form, color, composition, spatial relationships and overall expressiveness betray a robust IQ. And it's not as if the coders of Silicon Valley are worldly sophisticates because they sit in front of glowing screens manipulating numbers all day long - I'm sure many of them are just as ignorant by your standards as Farrah.

Redmond as of 2018. Reported by PEOPLE Magazine.

"And menopause wasn’t doing her any cognitive favors."

Um, please. Thousands of women do through it every minute without going on Letterman acting like a meth-head. DEAL WITH IT AIRHEAD Farrah.

R27, Leif Garrett was the other guest who was on drugs. Rosie stopped by his dressing room before the (live) show to introduce herself, and he was fine. However, when he walked onto the set, he suddenly had a fresh big burn on his face and seemed "off." Rosie assumed he had burned himself from a crack pipe. And to top it off, he was on the show to talk about his sobriety!

Whoa R36....that's a rough looking character.

I saw a video- she was naked and smeared in paint, rubbing up against a canvas.

Late 90s. I was stoned. Am I remembering correctly?

That’s what she was promoting r40 a tv special and layout she did for playboy where she did body painting on canvas and vignettes of people talking about her and her photo shoot with playboy. She posed for them two years before and it was one of their best selling issues, she negotiated a deal for $1 million and a percentage of each copy sold.

Ryan said in his book that she was trying to portray a ditzy playboy model on letterman and took it too far. He said she had a hard time with menopause and turning 50, I think the letterman appearance was right after she caught him in bed with Leslie steffanson who later married James spader.

Griffin and Tatum moved out not long after Farrah moved in. I think she interacted more with Patrick who lived with Ryan his last couple of years in high school.

Her life was pretty tragic. She worked so hard to become a serious actress and became one. (See Small Sacrifices, she's just brilliant in it.)

And then bad relationships and bad drugs ruined it all and maybe even cost her her life.

Eww.

Those close to Farrah say she wasn't on drugs, she was just nervous.

r36 if Rumer Willis had a brother...... same potato head

She was awesome in Burning Bed. In that high school photo above she looks like sunshine personified. Yeah she had a tragic life and was a hot mess but didnt seem like a mean person

R35, if you have a fawning dream not based in reality...DREAM ON.

I'm assuming nobody here saw...BOBBI BOLAND.

[R47] And you're a complete failure as a snob. Not very convincing.

[R47] Helpful hint for hicks - you're supposed to know more, not less, than those you're trying to put down. You have a lame act going on.

I've read several things about Charlie's Angels and most said that Farrah was smart and professional BUT very traditional. Jacklyn Smith was the idiot of the group. Despite being smart enough to start her clothing line at affordable stores.

It takes one smart cookie to name her first cat Bootsy Gumdrop.

[quote]Ryan O'Neal admitted that he and his family were her downfall. They were heavily into drugs and she got into drugs because of them. She should have stayed married to Lee Majors and had a few kids with him. She'd probably still be alive.

Agree with every word.

When she was still married to Lee Majors, she was on one of the late night talk shows, both of them were. My sister watched it and asked me the next day if I had seen it or heard about it because she said Farrah acted really strange. She kept apologizing to Majors for something and the tone was so odd, my sister wondered what was really going on. This was way before the internet.

Farrah was apologizing for not having a penis.

She was skin and bones in that interview and I think it was before she was sick.

[quote]I'm assuming nobody here saw...BOBBI BOLAND.

I worked on Bobby Boland, [r48]

R57, do you have any Farrah gossip to share?

It sucked she died the same day as Michael Jackson. Her death was sort of lost in the news cycle. I would have taken Farrah anytime over that crazy POS.

[quote][R57], do you have any Farrah gossip to share?

Not much that you haven't read. [r58]. Something was clearly wrong with her. Throughout techs and previews, she would use actors' real names instead of their characters, and weirdly, visa versa. She was pretty good about remembering her lines, but not her blocking. She'd miss entrances. There was no indication of overt drug abuse. She was very sweet. Even though it meant losing a job, I was glad when they pulled the plug. She was in no condition to carry the show.

The memory is a sad one. I'd done a little work on Extremities, and she was a different person.

Someone needs to explain to me what happened to that glorious hair as she got older. Why did it always look like deep fried ramen? Why didnt someone, anyone say something?

High as a fucking kite. You don't get suddenly distracted by the fake NYC skyline in the middle of it because of an attack of nerves.

Thank you, r60. So sad. How was the script? Was it to a level that it would have had a run if she'd been in shape?

[quote]Thank you, [R60]. So sad. How was the script? Was it to a level that it would have had a run if she'd been in shape?

Oh, HELL no, [r48]. It was a kind of a vanity project for a wealthy former beauty queen/cheerleader (and you're welcome).

Might have been campy fun and run a few months on FF's name.

Somewhere I have a full show audio.