Tatum Beatrice O'Neal (born November 5, 1963) is an American actress and author. She is the youngest person ever to win a competitive Academy Award, which she won in 1974 at age 10 for her performance as Addie Loggins in Paper Moon opposite her father, Ryan O'Neal. She also starred in The Bad News Bears, in 1976, followed by Nickelodeon (1976), and Little Darlings (1980).

In 1986, O'Neal married the professional tennis player John McEnroe, with whom she had three children. The couple separated in 1992 and were divorced in 1994.

Biography

Family and relationships
One of O'Neal's first public boyfriends was pop star Michael Jackson, whom she dated in the late 1970s. Jackson described O'Neal as his first love, and in a 2002 interview with Martin Bashir said that O'Neal tried to seduce him, but he was terrified by the idea of sex. O'Neal adamantly denied all of Jackson's claims in her 2004 autobiography.

O'Neal's relationship with tennis player John McEnroe began in 1984 when she moved into his Central Park West condominium in New York City. They married In 1986. The couple has three children: Kevin, Sean, and Emily. They separated in 1992 and were divorced in 1994. Following the divorce, O'Neal's drug problems reemerged and she developed an addiction to heroin. As a result of her drug problems, McEnroe obtained custody of the children in 1998.

In 2011, Tatum and her father Ryan began to restore their broken father–daughter relationship after 25 years. Their reunion and reconciliation process was captured in the short-lived Oprah Winfrey Network series Ryan and Tatum: The O'Neals. In 2015, she said she had begun dating women, while choosing not to identify as either lesbian or heterosexual, saying, "I'm not one or the other."


Arrest
On June 1, 2008, she was arrested for buying crack cocaine near her Manhattan apartment building. When police searched her, they found two bags of drugs—one of crack cocaine, one of powder cocaine—and an unused crack pipe. She was charged with a misdemeanor criminal possession of a controlled substance. Authorities released her without bail. On July 2, 2008, O'Neal pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in connection with the arrest and agreed to spend two half-day sessions in a drug treatment program.


Autobiographical claims
In her autobiography, A Paper Life, O'Neal alleged that she was molested by her father's drug dealer when she was 12. She also alleges physical and emotional abuse from her father, much of which she attributed to drug use. She also detailed her own heroin addiction and its effects on her relationship with her children. Her father, Ryan, denied the allegations. In a prepared statement, Ryan O'Neal said: "It is a sad day when malicious lies are told in order to become a 'best-seller'."

In 2011, O'Neal wrote a new collection of memoirs titled Found: A Daughter's Journey Home, which dealt with her tempestuous relationship with her father, volatile marriage to John McEnroe, and her recent drug arrest.

Best films