Even when you know it’s coming, it doesn’t get any easier. Farrah Fawcett, who battled cancer for the last three years, died this morning in Santa Monica at the age of 62.

There are few entertainers who can claim the term “iconic,” but Farrah was clearly one of them. From her role in Charlie’s Angels to her record-selling poster, she defined beauty for the Seventies. Her decision to leave Charlie’s Angels after a single season was shocking, but paved the way for the paydays enjoyed by so many stars today. She showed a lot of young girls the way to stardom, and a lot of young boys the way to manhood …

Though her star never burned as bright as it did in the early days, Farrah was seldom far from the spotlight. In “Burning Bed,” she shed the glamor image for that of a battered wife who’d had enough. In her fifties, she posed for Playboy, and she was recently the star of her own reality show.

It is probably her fight against cancer that will define her legacy. Unlike so many who retreat behind walls of secrecy, Farrah wanted the world to see what she was up against. Documentary cameras followed her through her treatments and the downward spiral of her life, and she hid nothing – you saw the good days and the increasingly bad ones. When staffers at UCLA leaked her medical records to the National Enquirer, she set up a sting that ultimately unmasked the perpetrators. To the end, she was Texas tough, and Texas proud.

Make room, God – here comes another Angel.

UPDATE: And in related news, many media outlets are reporting that singer Michael Jackson has been rushed to the hospital after suffering a heart attack. TMZ is saying he died, but they don’t have to worry about things like fact checking. Won’t be surprised if that turns out to be true, though – you can only put your body through so much in one lifetime. Safe to say that wherever Farrah ends up, Michael won’t …