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The Oscar winner reflects on her final visit with her father shortly before his death, claiming that Ryan offered her drugs despite Tatum suffering a near-fatal overdose a few years prior.
Tatum O’Neal is opening up about being removed from her father Ryan’s will before his death in 2023.
In a cover story for Variety, the actress reflected on her complicated, and for many years, estranged, relationship with her late father, including how she feels about being left out of Ryan’s will.
Ryan died in December 2023 at the age of 82. Tatum previously shared that they “ended on such good terms” at the time of her dad’s passing, and told Variety she was hurt when she learned she wasn’t included in his will.
Tatum O’Neal Pays Tribute to Father Ryan After Actor’s Death: ‘I’ll Miss Him Forever’
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As for how the Oscar winner felt about her father sending her what Variety referred to as a “final f–k you,” she said, “Keep it, mother f–ker.”
“It’s blood money,” Tatum’s son, Kevin McEnroe, added.
Tatum said she thinks Ryan took her out of the will many years before his death, telling Variety that she believes he removed her following the release of her 2001 memoir, A Paper Life, in which she accused him of physical and emotional abuse, and claimed she had been sexually assaulted by one of her father’s friends.
“The first book that I wrote was just a f–king honest book. And that’s what got him,” Tatum told Variety.
A few years before her father’s passing, Tatum suffered a near-fatal drug overdose. In May 2020, the Little Darlings actress had a stroke, leaving her in a six-week coma after overdosing on pain medication, opiates and morphine.
Tatum O’Neal ‘Almost Died’ from Overdose, Was In Six-Week Coma After Suffering Stroke
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She shared that despite her past estrangement from her father, she saw him three times following her overdose. During her final visit, which was shortly before Ryan’s death, Tatum claimed her father offered her drugs.
“I know he was drinking, smoking a lot of pot, and he was like, ‘Here, take a pill,'” she recalled. “I was like, ‘No, thank you.'”
However, Tatum’s son, who is also sober, revealed to Variety that while his mother declined her father’s offer to take drugs, she consumed alcohol.
“She drank that day though. Every single time she’s seen her dad my entire life, something happens,” said McEnroe, 38, whom Tatum welcomed during her marriage to John McEnroe.
Meanwhile, Tatum — who has been very open about her battles with substance abuse through the years — gave an update on her recovery nearly two years after her stroke.
“Now I don’t want to hurt myself. Now I don’t want to f–king take drugs again — I really don’t,” she said.
