Tatum O’Neal shares heartfelt tribute to late father Ryan O’Neal

Tatum O’Neal shares a thank you message to friends and fans after the death of her father, Ryan O’Nealon Friday.

Tatum shared a video on Instagram with a photo montage of the father-daughter duo over the years, and her own personal thanks.

“Thank you everyone for all your love and support,” she said in the clip. “He’s in heaven now.”

The montage showed photos of Ryan and Tatum from when she was a baby, during their co-starring role in the 1973 film. Paper moonuntil their reconciliation in adulthood.

Tatum was only nine years old when she started filming Paper moon next to her father. She would go on to win an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress, becoming the youngest person ever (at age 10) to win the coveted awards. But her young Hollywood success came at a price.

Tatum struggled with drug addiction throughout her life, claiming in her 2005 autobiography: A paper life, that her father abused and introduced her to drugs. They would eventually lose contact for almost twenty years. In 2011, Ryan admitted that he didn’t know where his daughter was for years.

“It’s humiliating,” Ryan stated at the time. ‘I don’t know how that happened. I’m only now learning how [for us] find a way back. We are working on it.”

Despite everything they had been through, Ryan and Tatum began their reconciliation in 2011. Parts of their reunion were captured for a short-lived OWN series. Ryan and Tatum: The O’Neals.

In September 2020, Tatum’s son, Sean McEnroe, shared a photo of Ryan, Tatum, and her three children, all reunited amid the COVID epidemic and California’s ongoing wildfires.

“This is one of the most memorable photos of my life,” says Sean caption of the sweet family photo. “The last time we were all together was for the 30th anniversary Paper moon Anniversary in 2003. I could cry tears of gratitude that everyone in this photo is still alive and that we could all come together again after so many years of hardship. The entire West Coast is on fire, but if the O’Neals can reconcile, anything is possible.”

Tatums latest Instagram post with her dad was on his 82nd birthday on April 21, 2023. “Happy Birthday Dad, I love you,” she captioned the smiling photo.