Farrah Fawcett's Doctor Dispels Extreme Weight Rumors

April 23, 2009 -- Reports of former "Charlie's Angels" star Farrah Fawcett's weight plummeting to a mere 86 pounds shocked the nation earlier this month, but her doctor said today the rumors are false.

"She is not 86 pounds," Dr. Lawrence Piro told "Good Morning America" in his first television interview discussing her condition. "She is 101 pounds. She has challenges every day with the fight with cancer. As long as she is able to fight, she will keep fighting."

Piro said that is a "reasonable weight" under the circumstances.

Piro, of the Los Angeles Clinic and Research Institute, has been treating Fawcett for her recurring anal cancer and said the 5-foot, 6-inch star has been up on her feet and even recently celebrated the birthday of her nearly 30-year boyfriend Ryan O'Neal.

"There was a great birthday party at her house and they participated and she had a very nice piece of cake," Piro said. "She was joyful and happy to be a part of it."

Piro said Fawcett, 62, found some strength in her relationship with O'Neal.

"It has been an amazing relationship and Ryan has been an amazing companion and partner for her," Piro said. "He has been with her all the way through this, at her side, what ever she needs. It is something that all of us could only hope for if we had to walk in this kind of path, someone who has been so dedicated as Ryan has been to Farrah."

Although Fawcett's particular kind of cancer strikes only about 5,000 people a year, Piro said Fawcett never complains.

"Never once have I heard her ask, 'Why her,' which is a very natural thing to ask. But she has never perceived herself of being in a position of life where she assumed she should be immune," he said. "She has courage and she has strength. She can do what so many people aspire to do and what the journey with cancer teaches you is the ability to look in the face of fear and to not shutter."