Lawsuit, Health Woes Hang Over 'Farrah's Story'

Farrah Fawcett's video diary about cancer battle is set to premiere.

ByABC News
May 11, 2009, 8:53 PM

May 15, 2009 — -- Farrah Fawcett plans to watch with the rest of America tonight when a documentary about her battle with cancer airs on national television.

In an e-mail to ABCNews.com, Fawcett's spokesman, Arnold Robinson, described her condition as "stable" and said, "She remains under the treatment of her doctors here in America."

On Wednesday at a screening of "Farrah's Story," an unflinching look at her struggle to overcome cancer, Fawcett's longtime companion, actor Ryan O'Neal, told the AP that Fawcett planned to watch Friday's broadcast of her video diary from her Los Angeles home.

"She's heavily medicated," said O'Neal, 68. "We're going to take some of these medications down so she's lucid and sharp to watch herself. I think she'll take great pride in this."

Fawcett's battle with anal cancer has been well-publicized since she was diagnosed in 2006. Fans and cancer patients have followed her struggle and reached out to the "Charlie's Angels" star.

"There has been an enormous outpouring of support, which you will get a sense of when you view the special," Robinson said.

One cloud hanging over tonight's broadcast is a lawsuit filed Wednesday by one of the documentary's producers. Craig Nevius, who once served as Fawcett's spokesman, is suing O'Neal, his business manager and another producer, Alana Stewart, to regain creative control over the program. He claimed that the trio interfered with his right to produce the documentary and that O'Neal threatened him.

Robinson fired back Fawcett's response to the lawsuit: "We are shocked by these allegations. Here's a woman who everyone knows has been ill, and to do something like this is horrific. This has been a very difficult time for Ryan O'Neal and Farrah's family and friends. When you see something like this you have to question the motives of a person who can do something so hurtful during this very sensitive time in a person's life."

When ABCNews.com spoke to Nevius last June, the documentary, then called "A Wing and a Prayer," was in post-production. He called the footage he and others had shot "incredibly unique."