Tatum O’Neal Suffered Near-Fatal OD in 2020 That Caused Stroke and Coma

Oscar winner Tatum O’Neal is on the road to recovery after a near-fatal overdose in 2020.

“I almost died,” the 59-year-old actress told People magazine, as she and her son Kevin McEnroe opened up about the debilitating aftermath of the OD, which included a severe stroke and six-week coma.

Kevin, whom she shares with ex-husband John McEnroe, told the magazine, "It was the phone call we'd always been waiting for,” adding, “She also had a cardiac arrest and a number of seizures. There were times we didn't think she was going to survive."

Leading up to the OD, O’Neal was prescribed medications for neck and back pain as well as rheumatoid arthritis. As the COVID pandemic hit, she was abusing some of the meds, according to the magazine.

On the day of the overdose in May 2020, she had taken the prescriptions, opiates, and morphine. A friend found her in her L.A. apartment and she was rushed to a hospital.

Looking back at that time period, at the beginning of the pandemic, Kevin recalled, "She had become very isolated. With the addition of morphine and heavier pharmaceuticals, it was getting scary. COVID, chronic pain, all these things led to a place of isolation. In that place, I don't think, for her, there was much hope.”

After the overdose, her prognosis was grim. She was diagnosed with aphasia. According to John Hopkins medicine the condition is “a language disorder caused by damage in a specific area of the brain that controls language expression and comprehension. Aphasia leaves a person unable to communicate effectively with others.”

O’Neal was in a coma and Kevin shared she had suffered “damage to her right frontal cortex.”

"At times, it was touch and go,” he said.

Kevin said he had to call his brother Sean McEnroe and sister Emily McEnroe, and tell them their mom “was thought to be blind, deaf, and potentially might never speak again."

Once she was awake, Tatum was unable to communicate and Kevin said, “She didn’t know where she was.” The family feared she may never walk.

In the years that followed, O’Neal is making progress. She is regaining her vocabulary and ability to read and write, regaining her memory, building her strength, receiving daily therapy, focusing on recoverym and attending 12-step meetings — including some by Zoom.

She told the magazine, “I’ve been through a lot."

Kevin shared, “Emotionally ,the things that made my mom want to take drugs in the first place, those things are still very present.”

Tatum adds, “I’ve been trying to get sober my whole life. Every day, I am trying.”

She reflected on her journey explaining, "I was an addict my whole life pretty much on and off, for the past 30 to 40 years.”

Kevin, who has been sober himself for the past three and a half years, said of his mom, “She could always want sobriety as a mom, but she never really wanted it for herself.”

He continued, “So to me this last chapter where she wants to live, wants to get sober, wants to learn, I think it's a miracle. I think it's beautiful. I've never been more proud to be her son. She's full of love and full of heart.”

“Every day I am trying,” Tatum said. “I want to be with my beautiful three kids.”

Kevin praised her, sharing, “She is learning to be with herself and find some love for herself. It's been hard but it’s been beautiful and it’s a miracle to behold.”