Family of critically ill actress Farrah Fawcett deserves respectful reprieve

April 6, 4:19 PMBaltimore Celebrity Headlines ExaminerCheryl Taragin

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If you’re a fan of Showtime’s period drama “The Tudors,” you won’t want to miss the hot new reality series “House of O’Neal.” Even with the ever so slight possibility of Tatum as comic relief, this updated drama continues to evolve in heavy-handed fashion.

Oh, wait a minute. We’re not talking reality TV. Thinking about the rating possibilities threw me off guard.

Real life is unfolding in the tabloids before our eyes. And unlike reality TV, real life can’t be tweaked or edited or somehow made more palatable. While tongues wag over the drug addled offspring caught once again with the cookies up his sleeve, or in this case with heroin stashed away in his car, poor cancer-stricken Mom lies gravely ill in a California hospital bed. Events couldn’t be any more gut wrenching if written by Danielle Steel.

Former “Charlie’s Angels” star and poster girl Farrah Fawcett, age 62, checked into a Los Angeles hospital on Thursday and reportedly lapsed into a coma. Fawcett has been bravely battling anal cancer since September 2006. Reports of her condition range from “unconscious on her deathbed,” to “ailing,” to “holding on to hope,” making it difficult to get a handle on her actual prognosis. Sources report the cancer has spread to her liver. Sadly, the fearless angel may be waging her final battle.

Redmond O’Neal, her only child with longtime love Ryan O’Neal, is taking the news rather hard. The junior O’Neal, who was busted with his father in September 2008 and charged with possessing methamphetamine, drug paraphernalia, and pepper spray, was arrested again on Sunday for heroin possession. Police found narcotics and a supply of the anti-anxiety drug Xanax in O’Neal’s car while doing a routine search at a California detention center. O’Neal had driven a friend to the facility to visit another inmate.

Unlike the late Jade Goody, a woman who chose to live the end of her life on a public stage, Fawcett has dealt with her illness pretty much out of the limelight. Despite her quiet inspiring battle, the media appears poised to turn this next chapter into must see TV. Mass scrutiny can’t be pleasant for the family. Just look at poor Redmond. The guy is cracking up like chapped lips on steroids.

I almost hate myself for writing this article. Considering Fawcett’s ability to charm and entertain so many, the fantasies she inspired with her immortal swimsuit poster, and her latest display of strength and courage, couldn’t fans show their appreciation by telling the media to look away?