Back in 1980, seven years before his death, famed artist Andy Warhol painted bombshell actress-model Farrah Fawcett.
Now, nearly a decade after Farrah's death from cancer, her ex Ryan O'Neal is hoping to sell the piece of pop culture history to an art collector for millions, reports Page Six.
"Ryan O'Neal is quietly trying to unload his Warhol portrait of his ex, Farrah Fawcett. Initially, he wanted $20 million, but it's now marked down to $18 million," an art insider told the New York Post's gossip column, adding that the actor is "willing to let it go for less."
According to Page Six, there is documentation with the painting that includes a March 2018 letter from an appraiser who valued the portrait at between $21 million and $24 million. The documentation also includes details on the origins of the piece, Page Six reports, explaining that it was "painted by the artist in 1980 [as] one of a pair given to the actress and her common-law husband Ryan O'Neal … It's actually one of two portraits of Fawcett by Warhol. The other one was left by her to the University of Texas, which tried in court to take possession of both."
Page Six notes that a jury ruled in 2013 that Ryan could keep it. At the time, experts had valued the piece at up to $12 million, Page Six reports.
Page Six explains that Ryan wants an art collector to have the painting, not his four adult children — including his son with Farrah. The couple — who were together from the late '70s until the late '90s and again in the aughts in the years leading up to Farrah's 2009 death — share a troubled 35-year-old son, Redmond, who's currently behind bars on attempted murder, robbery and drug charges.
Ryan also has three older kids: actors Tatum and Griffin O'Neal with first wife Joanna Moore, and sportscaster Patrick O'Neal with second wife Leigh Taylor-Young.