After the Hollywood icon Ryan O’Neal passed away at 82 of chronic Leukemia on Friday, his daughter Tatum O’Neal expressed sorrow and a sense of loss after his death. Tatum, the youngest-ever Oscar-winning actress, was speaking to People when she expressed her sorrow over his death.
“I feel great sorrow with my father’s passing. He meant the world to me. I loved him very much and know he loved me too. I’ll miss him forever, and I feel very lucky that we ended on such good terms,” she was quoted as saying by People. The actress had earlier taken to Instagram to announce his demise.
Ryan And Tatum Had A Decades-Long Troubled Relationship
In the 1974 comedy ‘Paper Moon‘, Tatum had worked alongside her father. While their work together was highly acclaimed, it also marked the reconciliation between the father-daughter duo after two decades of estrangement.
Though the father and daughter shared several complexities in their relations, she said she feels a sense of great loss as she indeed loved him very much. The problems in their relationship had made their way into Tatum’s 2004 biography ‘A Paper Life‘. It was after that that the duo had kept away from each other for about 20 years.
However, months before Ryan’s partner, Farah Fawcett died in 2009, the father-daughter decided to mend their broken relationship. Farah died of cancer and the death prompted Ryan to extend an olive branch to Tatum. The support he sought from his daughter at the time became a catalyst for healing from the grief he was going through.
Tatum’s son, Sean McEnroe, was one of the main people who supported and brought about the reunion. “My dad was absolutely everything to me,” Tatum recalled while speaking to People, as she reminisced about the time they spent together after the reconciliation.
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Ryan Wished He Was More Involved In Tatum’s Early Life
At the time, Ryan also confessed that he wished he had been more involved in Tatum’s life, especially when she was young. “She didn’t have anyone after her mother died. She didn’t want me, and she said I abandoned her, and I did…A lot of harsh things were done,” he had said.
“We’re starting over and no looking back,” he had added, while speaking to the media when they got back together. The epic father-daughter story was also documented in OWN’s 2011 reality series ‘Ryan & Tatum: The O’Neals‘.
Their bond after that was going pretty strong, as was evident from a 2020 photo that Sean shared on social media. Posted with a photo of their family together, the caption read: “If the O’Neals can reconcile, truly anything is possible.”
She had also shared an Instagram post recently in April, wishing him a happy birthday. “Happy birthday dad I love you,” the caption of the post read.
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