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US actress Farrah Fawcett - Source: Reuters -
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A documentary that charts Farah Fawcett's battle with cancer has drawn 8.9 million viewers on US television.
The 90-minute film, much of it narrated by Fawcett, 62, chronicles the actress' numerous medical treatments and recent weeks when she has been bedridden, heavily medicated and barely able to recognise her and Ryan O'Neal's son, Redmond.
She was diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006, and it spread to her liver two years ago. The film includes footage of Fawcett shaving her own hair late last year when it began to fall out after chemotherapy.
The documentary, Farah's Story was aired in America on Friday night and according to IMDB.com, US station NBC claims preliminary figures show it was the station's most-watched programme in its Friday night slot in more than a year, excluding the Olympics.
Legal tug-of-war in dying days
Before the doco aired it was revealed that Fawcett is caught in the middle of a legal battle between her longtime companion, O'Neal, and a producer.
Fawcett collaborated with producer Craig Nevius on the documentary and has now filed a breach of contract lawsuit after accusing O'Neal or his associates of taking over the documentary without Fawcett's authorisation.
"The project was recut from top to bottom, and included footage that Farrah had never seen or approved," Nevius said.
Nevius, who said Fawcett authorised him to act on her behalf, declined to detail the differences between the two versions, saying he had not been allowed to see the final cut of the new version.
He has also been banned by O'Neal's business manager from communicating with Fawcett "under physical and professional threat," he said.
The defendants in the suit are O'Neal, his business manager, and Fawcett's friend Alana Stewart, the former wife of rocker Rod Stewart.
A spokesman for O'Neal and Fawcett said the Love Story actor "finds this lawsuit deplorable and disgusting."
"They're shocked at this unconscionable act being done as Farrah fights for her life. Ryan is devastated. We hope and pray that Farrah does not know or see this lawsuit in the condition she is in right now," Paul Bloch said.
Nevius' lawsuit was filed in the same week that Fawcett's representatives dropped legal action over the rights to an iconic 1970s photo of her in a red bathing suit.
