Tatum O’Neal Shares Desires to Mend Relationship With Father
By Moviguide® Contributor
In 2020, Grammy Award winner Tatum O’Neal suffered from a drug overdose and almost lost her life.
Three years later, O’Neal had a deep desire to mend her broken relationship with her father, Ryan O’Neal.
Movieguide® previously reported on Tatum O’Neal’s overdose:
In May 2020, O’Neal suffered a stroke which left her in a coma for six weeks all due to an overdose.
O’Neal told PEOPLE, “I almost died.”
Her oldest son, Kevin McEnroe stated, “It was the phone call we’d always been waiting for.”
“She also had a cardiac arrest and a number of seizures,” he added. “There were times we didn’t think she was going to survive.”
While in the hospital, O’Neal was diagnosed with aphasia. The NIH describes aphasia as a disorder that arises after the part of the brain responsible for language is damaged.
Kevin thought “At times, it was touch and go. I had to call my brother and sister and say she was thought to be blind, deaf and potentially might never speak again.”
Kevin grew concerned for his mother following her stroke. With many reasons, O’Neal isolated herself from everyone.
“She had become very isolated,” Kevin stated. “With the addition of morphine and heavier pharmaceuticals, it was getting scary. COVID, chronic pain, all these things led to a place of isolation. In that place, I don’t think, for her, there was much hope.”
FOX News Digital reported that Tatum O’Neal shared in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter about her recent reconnection with her father, Ryan.
“I think he’s gotten a little bit better in his life,” she spoke of her father before they reconnected. “I mean, he’s an amazing man, my dad, and I miss him terribly.”
Tatum shared that the last time the whole family came together was in 2020 shortly after her overdose.
Sean McEnroe, Tatum’s son, shared a photo from their family meeting in 2020.
He wrote, “This is one of the most memorable photos of my life. The last time we were all together was at the 30-year Paper Moon Anniversary in 2003. I could cry tears of gratitude that everyone in this photo is still alive and that we were all able to come together again after so many years of hardship. The entire West Coast is burning, but if the O’Neals can reconcile, truly anything is possible ??☺️?#Reconciliation #Forgiveness #Wholeness #Love #FAMILY.”
Following her meeting with her father in April, Tatum said that “It went really well,” and “He was really sad. Sad about his brother.” (Tatum’s uncle and her father’s brother Kevin O’Neal passed away in January 2023)
Although Tatum and her father Ryan didn’t talk a lot, there was happiness.
She said, “But there was happiness. I saw he was having coffee, and I said, ‘I want some coffee.’ He was asking me things about me, and I said, ‘I have a bad back. But I’m trying so hard. I’m alive.’ But then when I tried to text him two days ago to see if I could go back, he didn’t call me back. So then it gets a little weird, unfortunately.”
On April 21, Tatum shared a photo of her and her father on Instagram and wrote, “Happy birthday dad I love you.”
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