Ryan O’Neal’s 4 Children: All About the Family’s Ups and Downs Over the Years

Ryan O’Neal’s relationships with his four children have been both close and complicated throughout his life.

The Love story the actor, who died on December 8, 2023, was the father of four children. With his first wife, Joanna Moore, he shared a daughter, Tatum, and a son, Griffin; son Patrick with his second wife, Leigh Taylor-Young; and his youngest son, Redmond, with Farrah Fawcett.

Over the years, the O’Neals have been known as one of the most turbulent families in Hollywood, and Tatum and Griffin detail their troubled childhoods, struggles with addiction and more.

“My life was a reign of degradation from drugs and alcohol,” Griffin told PEOPLE in 2015. “I had to self-medicate my whole life because the pain was everywhere. Drugs were everywhere in my family all day, every day. It was the ’60s and ’70s and Tatum and I had a rough time.”

Tatum and Griffin’s issues led to decades of difficulty with their father, and although Griffin and his father remained estranged, Tatum and Ryan reunited in 2020.

Ryan’s other son, sports journalist Patrick, announced his death at the age of 82, saying the actor “passed away peacefully”.

“My father Ryan O’Neal has always been my hero,” he wrote on Instagram. – I looked up to him and he was always larger than life.

Following her father’s death, Tatum exclusively told PEOPLE, “I feel great sadness over my father’s passing. He meant the world to me. I loved him so much and I know he loved me. I will miss him forever and feel so lucky that we ended up on such good terms.”

Ryan O’Neal took a picture with his daughter Tatum O’Neal to mark her 82nd birthday 7 months before his death

From on-screen moments together to mended relationships, here’s a look back at Ryan O’Neal’s ups and downs with his kids.

He shared his four children with three women

Ryan became a father for the first time in 1963 when he and his then-wife Moore had a daughter, Tatum. The couple had their second child, Griffin, the following year, although they divorced in 1966.

A year later, Ryan married his second wife, Taylor-Young. The couple had one son, Patrick, born in 1967. Ryan and Taylor-Young divorced in 1974, but maintained their friendship.

Ryan shared his youngest child and third son, Redmond, born in 1985, with actress Farrah Fawcett. The Hollywood couple were together for nearly 20 years, although they split in 1997. They reunited in 2001 after O’Neal was diagnosed with leukemia and remained together until Fawcett’s death in 2009.

“There wasn’t a day that went by that I didn’t love her,” Ryan told PEOPLE of Fawcett in 2019.

Ryan and daughter Tatum played a father-daughter duo Paper moon

Steve Schapiro/Corbis via Getty

Ryan and Tatum famously shared the screen in the 70s, playing father and daughter in the 1973 film. Paper moon. Tatum was just 10 years old at the time, and her performance as Addie Loggins won her an Oscar – making her the youngest person to win an Oscar. Ryan also earned an Academy Award nomination for his role.

Tatum went on to star in several films and television series, including They bring bad news, Little Darlings and the guest joins in Sex and the city.

Tatum and Griffin have spoken openly about their troubled childhoods and estrangement from Ryan

Ryan’s difficult relationship with his older children began when they were young. The late actor was estranged from both Tatum and Griffin for several years.

Tatum said their decades-long estrangement began shortly after Ryan’s relationship with Fawcett began. “My dad has no idea how terrible his passing was for us,” Tatum once told PEOPLE. The actress also said she suffered physical and emotional abuse during her childhood, and her father introduced her and her younger brother to drugs.

In 2015, Griffin told PEOPLE that his struggle with substance abuse began when he was 9 years old. When Griffin was 16, his father once knocked out his teeth.

“My whole family was completely torn apart by drug addiction and alcoholism,” Griffin said. “The common denominator is drugs, alcohol and depression, and it’s a never-ending cycle. I had to get away from all that. I am done.”

Griffin and Ryan fell out again in 2007, when the late actor was arrested for allegedly assaulting Griffin with a firearm. (At the time, he claimed it was in self-defense.) “The last time I saw my dad, he shot me because I was trying to help his son [Redmond] sober up I haven’t talked to him in nine years,” he told PEOPLE in 2015.

Redmond blamed his famous parents for his legal problems

Michael Bezjian/WireImage

Ryan’s youngest son, Redmond, has also struggled with substance abuse since his teenage years. In 2004, he went to rehab for taking heroin. He has also been arrested multiple times on drug-related charges.

“I love him, but I’ve never seen the scarier side of addiction,” Tatum told PEOPLE in 2015. “He has so many addiction problems it breaks my heart.”

After Redmond was arrested and charged following an alleged store robbery in 2018, he blamed his history of fighting on his famous parents, Ryan and Fawcett.

Heroin, prison and ‘he can’t control’ addictions: the difficult life of Farrah Fawcett’s son

Redmond — who was in prison at the time — told RadarOnline that “it’s not the drugs that are the problem, it’s the psychological trauma of my whole life — my life experiences that have affected me the most.”

He added that arguments with his father and “getting kicked out and living on the streets” contributed to his struggles, including “going to prison, being put in a psych ward, being constantly humiliated”.

“The pressure that came with it set off a ticking time bomb in my head,” Redmond said of his famous parents. “I never asked for any of this, I never wanted attention.”

Ryan’s rep did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment at the time.

Ryan reunited with Tatum and her children in 2020

Sean McEnroe/ Instagram

In 2020, Ryan was reunited with his family for the first time in 17 years. Tatum’s son Sean McEnroe, who she shares with ex-husband John McEnroe, shared a photo of his grandfather, mother and two brothers on Instagram, calling it one of the “most memorable photos” of his life.

“This is one of the most memorable photos of my life. The last time we were all together was at the 30th anniversary of Paper Moon in 2003. I could cry tears of gratitude that everyone in this photo is still alive and that we can all be together again come together after so many years of hardship. The entire West Coast is burning, but if the O’Neals can reconcile, anything is truly possible,” Sean wrote, referring to the wildfires happening in California, Oregon and Washington at the time.

Despite their decades of estrangement, Tatum has previously said that Fawcett’s death in 2009 helped her and her father repair their relationship.

“She brought us back together,” Tatum said in 2010, adding of his father, “He told me he was sorry. He is all I have of family and I needed him in my life. My dad was absolutely everything to me.”

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Source: HIS Education