Tatum O’Neal pays tribute to father Ryan O’Neal: “I will miss him forever”

Tatum O’Neal speaks out following the news of Ryan O’Neal’s death on Friday.

The Oscar-winning actress shared a statement with People about how he felt after his father’s death. The two had a difficult relationship since they worked together in 1973. Moon Paperfor which Tatum won the Academy Award for best supporting actress at just 10 years old.

“I am deeply saddened by the passing of my father,” Tatum told the publication. “He meant everything to me. He loved him very much and I know he loved me too. “I will miss him forever and feel very lucky that we ended on such good terms.”

Ryan’s son Patrick shared the news that his father had died in a series of long posts on Instagram, calling on Peyton’s place star in a “Hollywood legend.”

“My father Ryan O’Neal has always been my hero. He admired him and he was always larger than life,” read the title of his first post. “My dad became an international movie star with Love story in the early 1970s, a decade in which he absolutely swept the world by starring in films such as What’s new old man?, Moon Paper, Barry Lyndon, A Bridge Too Far, The Main Event and The Driver.”

Tatum and Ryan’s relationship had its ups and downs in the decades after they worked together. Tatum struggled with substance abuse and Ryan admitted that he may have never been up to the job of being his father.

“He had this peculiar thing about Moon Paperand the director insisted that she was not my daughter,” she said on the OWN reality show in 2011. Ryan and Tatum: The O’Neals. “The director insisted that my character, Moisés, never thought for a second that it was his daughter. So, she wanted me to make sure I didn’t think of her as my daughter. And maybe she never disappeared.”

Tatum previously shared with The Hollywood Reporter that she felt that her father maybe hated her for winning the Oscar for Moon Paper instead of him, adding that his life went in the wrong direction towards happiness after his triumph at such a young age.

The couple would go years without seeing each other. Before this year, the last time father and daughter were together in person was in September 2020. But Tatum said THR In March he had started contact with his father again and they had plans to meet and talk.

When asked what he hoped would come out of the conversation, he said, “I think he’s gotten a little better in his life. “I mean, my dad is an amazing man and I miss him so much.” She added. “I don’t want him to die. I love him. I love my dad. “I mean, I’ve had a tough life with my dad, but I still love him.”