Tatum O’Neal honors late father Ryan O’Neal after his death
Tatum O’Neal is mourning the loss of her father, Ryan O’Neal, following this passing.
“I feel a lot of sadness about the death of my father,” Tatum, 60, said People on Friday, December 8, hours after Ryan’s death was confirmed. “He meant everything to me. I loved him very much and know he loved me too. I will miss him forever and I feel very fortunate that we ended on such good terms.
Ryan’s eldest son, Patrick O’Neal, confirmed the actor’s death earlier on Friday at the age of 82. “My father passed away peacefully today with his loving team by his side, who supported him and loved him as he would love us,” he said wrote via Instagram.
“My father Ryan O’Neal has always been my hero. I looked up to him and he was always larger than life,” Patrick continued. “When I was born in 1967, my father was already a TV star Peyton Place. There he met my mother Leigh Taylor Youngand about nine months later (a few date nights or two) I was born.
Patrick described his father as a “Hollywood legend. Full stop,” noting that the Ryan name “peaked” after he appeared in the 1970 film Love storywho “saved Paramount Studios and earned my father a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.”
Patrick said Ryan was “so skilled at his craft, worked so hard and loved to act plain and simple,” adding that he was “very intelligent,” an “avid reader” and a “magazine writer.” He concluded his message by saying that his father lived “a great life” and “never boasted” but “had bragging rights in heaven.”
He concluded the heartfelt tribute with, “I will miss you, Dad. I love you. We love you.”
Ryan, who was known for his roles in Paper moon, love story, Peyton Place, the driver and more, was the father of four children: Tatum and son Griffin O’Nealwhom he welcomed with his first wife Joanna Moore in 1963 and 1964 respectively; Patrick, 56, whom he shared with ex-wife Leigh Taylor-Young; And Redmond O’Nealwhich he welcomed in 1985 with Farrah Fawcett. (Ryan and Farrah were romantically linked for 30 years until her death in 2009.)
Throughout his life, Ryan made headlines for his ups and downs with his children. He and Griffin, 59, infamously fell out in 1983 and 2007, while he and son Redmond, 38, were arrested in 2008 for alleged drug possession. He was also often estranged from Tatum as she dealt with her own battle with addiction.
‘How would I feel if, for example, my father became ill or even died? Would I be okay? And I realized that things weren’t going to go well for me,” Tatum asked during a segment of the couple’s short-lived 2011 reality show, Ryan and Tatum: The O’Neals, according to CNN. “So I knew I had to make an effort, because what is your life without your family? What is your life without a father?”
The couple eventually reunited in September 2020, along with her three children – Kevin, 37, Sean, 36, and Emily, 32 – who she shares with her ex-husband. John McEnroe.
“This is one of the most memorable photos of my life,” says Sean wrote via Instagram at the time. “The last time we were all together was for the 30th anniversary Paper moon Anniversary in 2003. I could cry tears of gratitude that everyone in this photo is still alive and that we could all come together again after so many years of hardship. The entire West Coast is on fire, but if the O’Neal can reconcile, anything is possible.”