Tatum ONeals Son Shares Heartbreaking Mothers Day Message

Tatum O’Neal’s son, Kevin McEnroe, has written an honest appraisal of what life with the troubled Oscar winner has really been like.

In 'Dear Tatum,' shared on The Small Bow ahead of Mother's Day, McEnroe, 39, described the chaos of his childhood and said it was like living with two people. There was 'Mom,' and then there was 'Tatum,' the drug addict.

'When I was little, you were my mom, until your boyfriend gave you heroin,' wrote McEnroe, whose dad is professional tennis player John McEnroe, 67.

'You were my mom when you were clean, between rehabs, but then sometimes you were Tatum, too. I used to think Tatum took my mom away. Now I think Mom and Tatum just wanted something different. I think Mom and Tatum didn't always get along.'

McEnroe, 39, admitted he still calls the actress, 62, by her first name, but most of the time she’s just 'Mama.' O'Neal - who famously starred with her father, Ryan O'Neal, in 1973's Paper Moon, for which she won the Oscar - recently revealed .

He recalled how his mom sent him out to buy her cigarettes and offered him a 'line,' and how he threw away her drugs.

O’Neal's struggles with substance abuse began in her teenage years, following her own chaotic upbringing by actress mother Joanna Moore and actor father Ryan, who died in 2023 at age 82 after battling serious health issues like chronic leukemia and prostate cancer. 

Her childhood marked by neglect and abuse, as described in her memoir A Paper Life.

She has been in rehab multiple times throughout her life. In 1995, she lost custody of her son and two other children, Sean, 38, and Emily, 35, with the tennis legend when she started abusing drugs again.