ACTRESS Tatum O’Neal has revealed that she nearly died from an overdose in 2020 that caused her to suffer a stroke and enter a six-week coma.
The Bad News Bears star has struggled with drug addiction for decades.
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Now Tatum, 59, has opened up about the moment her substance abuse took a turn for the worst, amid the 2020 coronavirus pandemic.
In May of that year, the child star “overdosed on a combination of pain medication, opiates, and morphine.”
“I almost died,” she told People.
Tatum’s son Kevin McEnroe, 37, along with his siblings Sean, 35, and Emily, 32, feared it would be the last time they would speak to their mother.
“It was the phone call we’d always been waiting for,” he claimed to the outlet.
“She also had a cardiac arrest and a number of seizures. There were times we didn’t think she was going to survive.”
Tatum has spent the last three years in various rehabilitation centers working to regain her strength, memory, and basic skills like reading and writing.
“I’ve been through a lot,” she admitted, though her recovery has been miraculous thus far.
DEVASTATING OVERDOSE
At the start of the pandemic, the Oscar winner was abusing medications that had originally been prescribed for her back pain, neck pain, and rheumatoid arthritis.
On that tragic May 2020 day, a friend found Tatum in her Century City apartment and helped rush her to the hospital.
Upon examination, she had overdosed on a combination of pain medication, opiates, and morphine.
The movie star’s son Kevin told People: “She had become very isolated. 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.”
Once Tatum was admitted to the hospital, she was diagnosed with Aphasia, a disorder that results from damage to the language center of the brain.
Kevin told the outlet his mom was in a coma and “had damage to her right frontal cortex.”
“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.”
When Tatum first emerged from her coma, she could not speak or communicate at all.
“She didn’t know where she was. She couldn’t say, ‘I’m scared,'” Kevin claimed.
Then, Covid-19 restrictions were heightened, and the Nickelodeon star’s family was not allowed to visit her in the hospital.
“When Emily first visited her, she had to stand behind glass,” Kevin recalled of his sister’s experience.
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RECOVERY PROCESS
After two years of intense rehabilitation work with regular “medical supervision and therapy,” Tatum has made progress to regain her full memory.
But Kevin asserted that his mother still has much work to do to return to a healthy state.
“Emotionally the things that made my mom want to take drugs in the first place, those things are still very present.”
Tatum has been attending 12-step meetings to work on her sobriety in addition to regaining her vocabulary.
“I’ve been trying to get sober my whole life,” she told People.
“Every day, I am trying.”
DIFFICULT PAST
Tatum is the youngest Oscar winner of all time, with her role in the 1973 film Paper Moon alongside her father, Ryan O’Neal, reaching critical acclaim.
The actress shares her three children with her ex-husband, tennis legend John McEnroe.
Their eight-year marriage was turbulent and eruptive, concluding with a nasty divorce and custody battle.
Tatum has struggled with life-long drug addiction, even using heroin at certain low points.
She made an effort to get clean for her children on occasion, checking herself into rehab throughout their childhood.
“I was an addict my whole life. Pretty much on and off, for the past 30 to 40 years.”
Kevin added: “She could always want sobriety as a mom, but she never really wanted it for herself.
“Now she has embraced this attempt at recovery. She was always a very loving mom but when isolated, I think it was hard to find any love for herself.”
FAMILY TIES
Tatum’s eldest child has unfortunately seen his own battle with drugs and alcohol but recently celebrated three and a half years of sobriety.
“It was a road to a short life but now I don’t feel that way. And I’m so proud of her for trying,” he explained.
“In the world of recovery, there can be a moment where you feel, like, ‘I can’t keep living this way.’ And I think that is what finally occurred. Now I see an enormous amount of hope.
“So to me, this last chapter where she wants to live wants to get sober, wants to learn, I think it’s a miracle. I think it’s beautiful. I’ve never been more proud to be her son. She’s full of love and full of heart.
He continued: “She is learning to be with herself and find some love for herself. It’s been hard but it’s been beautiful and it’s a miracle to behold.
“All I ask her every day is just to try. I think we’re both really lucky to have gotten this chance.”
Tatum chimed in to add: “Every day I am trying. I want to be with my beautiful three kids.”
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If you or someone you know is affected by any of the issues raised in this story, call SAMHSA (Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration) at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
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