Tatum O’Neal and two brothers shut out of Ryan O’Neal’s funeral, one brother says

Even though Tatum O’Neal said that she and her father, Ryan O’Neal, had overcome some of the conflicts in their stormy relationship and were on “good terms” when he died on Dec. 8, she reportedly did not receive an invitation to his funeral over the weekend.

Neither did her younger brother, Griffin O’Neal, or her younger half-brother, Redmond O’Neal, Griffin O’Neal said in an interview with the New York Post. Both Griffin and Redmond O’Neal also had volatile relationships with the “Love Story” actor, who was as well known for his troubled family life as for starring in classic 1970s movies.

“I wasn’t even invited to send him off,” Griffin O’Neal told The Post. “I’m the hated son who told the truth. Dark times in this family. Love means never having to say you’re sorry — and Ryan never did, to anyone.”

O’Neal, who died at age 82 of congestive heart failure, was laid to rest Saturday next to his longtime partner Farrah Fawcett, Redmond O’Neal’s mother, Deadline reported. O’Neal and Fawcett also had a turbulent on-off relationship, which started in 1979. They reconciled before her death in 2009.

The burial service for O’Neal took place at the Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park & Mortuary in Los Angeles, Deadline said. About 25 people attended the graveside service, including O’Neal’s fourth child, Patrick O’Neal, and O’Neal’s second wife, Leigh Taylor-Young, who is Patrick’s mother and who remained on good terms with Ryan O’Neal after their 1973 divorce, the Daily Mail reported. 

Patrick O’Neal is a Los Angeles sportscaster who had grown close to his father in recent years, the New York Post said. Meanwhile, Griffin O’Neal told The New York Post that he hadn’t spoken to his father in 17 years — after the two brawled at O’Neal’s Malibu home in 2007. During the fight, Griffin O’Neal allegedly swung a fireplace poker at his father, while his father took aim at him with a gun.

Given that Griffin O’Neal wasn’t on speaking terms with his father, it’s not entirely surprising that he would not be invited to his burial service. But he also told the New York Post that two of his other siblings also were not invited.

It’s not likely that Redmond O’Neal could have attended: He is currently incarcerated at Patton State Hospital in San Bernardino, the Post said. He was sent there in 2019 after he was deemed mentally unfit to stand trial on attempted murder and drug charges. A guardian for Redmond O’Neal refused to comment on whether he was invited to the burial service when contacted by a reporter for The Post.

Tatum O’Neal also did not respond to a request for comment from The Post about Griffin’s claim that she, too, was shut out of her father’s service.

Tatum O’Neal spent about 20 years being estranged from her father. They become famous as a father-daughter duo after they co-starred in the 1973 comedy “A Paper Moon.” At age 10, she also won the best supporting actress Academy Award for her performance in the movie. However, she later said that her father was jealous that she had an Oscar, but he didn’t, the Daily Mail reported. Neither he nor her mother, Joanna Moore, attended the 1974 Oscars ceremony.

While Tatum O’Neal enjoyed a stint as a precocious child star after “A Paper Moon,” she encountered difficulty as she tried to transition into adult roles. She also said she grew up with little in the way of nurturing parental support, as she revealed in her 2004 memoir, “A Paper Life,” and her 2011 follow-up, “Found: A Daughter’s Journey Home,” the Los Angeles Times reported in 2018.

Griffin O’Neal said that he and his sister had to deal with their father’s volatile temper and alleged drug abuse, according to a Vanity Fair report. Griffin O’Neal claimed that their father gave him cocaine to try when he was 11, while Tatum O’Neal said she suffered physical and emotional abuse as a result of her father’s drug abuse, Vanity Fair also reported. While Ryan O’Neal denied many of his daughter’s claims, the two eventually reconciled after Fawcett’s 2009 death.

Like her father, Tatum O’Neal also became known for her troubled personal life, which included her epic struggles with drug addiction and her turbulent relationship with ex-husband John McEnroe. Tatum O’Neal reportedly was sober in 2018, but she relapsed during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. She told People this summer that she began abusing prescription pain medications, some of which were prescribed for her back and neck pain and rheumatoid arthritis. In May 2020, she overdosed on a combination of pain medication, opiates and morphine, spent six weeks in a coma and has undergone a three-year recovery to regain her memory and her speech.

When her father died, Tatum O’Neal issued a statement saying she felt “great sorrow” for his “passing.”  She said, “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.