Ryan O’Neal memorably starred alongside his daughter, Tatum, in 1973’s “Paper Moon.” Tatum’s performance was so captivating that she won an Academy Award for best supporting actress — the youngest person to do so as of 2023 — but he allegedly resented her for it. “He loved me, but then hated me, because I won the Academy Award,” she told The Hollywood Reporter in 2023.
The pair were estranged on and off throughout the years. “Weird s*** happened,” she told the outlet of the time after her win. “It kind of went in the wrong direction to happiness.” In her 2004 autobiography “A Paper Life,” Tatum revealed that Ryan’s drug dealer sexually assaulted her at 12, and she experienced addiction throughout her life — a pattern that would follow her siblings. “I’ve got a battle with drugs, but I’m a strong, independent person, and I fight for myself, and my father and I butt heads,” she told Vanity Fair for the 2009 profile. “When I was 16 years old, he and Farrah [Fawcett] moved in together. And after that, I saw my dad periodically. And that took a long time for me to get over.”
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She attempted to reconcile with her father in 2011 for the documentary series “Ryan and Tatum: The O’Neals,” but the Independent said in July 2023 that it remained “tumultuous.” After Ryan’s death months later, Tatum said that they had reconciled. “I’ll miss him forever and I feel very lucky that we ended on such good terms,” she told People. She also told People that Farrah Fawcett’s passing in 2009 played a “very big role” in their decision to rekindle the relationship.
