Tatum O'Neal's son has penned an open letter to his actress mother, in which he writes that he often blames himself for her overdose in 2020. Tatum had a severe, near-fatal stroke in May 2020 following a drug overdose that resulted in a six-week coma and lasting damage to her speech and memory.
In the pre-Mother’s Day letter shared via his website on Thursday, May 7, 39-year-old Kevin McEnroe wrote that he often believed that she would attempt to kill herself if he didn't pick up the phone when she called, "until one day I didn’t answer and you did."
© Getty Images"Boundaries, everyone says. I used to tell them that they didn’t understand. That if I didn’t answer your call, you might kill yourself. Until one day I didn’t answer and you did," Kevin wrote.
Tatum has since been diagnosed with aphasia, but through consistent therapy worked on regaining a full memory and grasp of her vocabulary.
© WireImageKevin also shared that he calls his mom by her first name "because sometimes I miss my mom," but that he has come to realize that Tatum and "mom" are two different people.
The son of Tatum and Tennis player John McEnroe continued: "I call you Tatum because your name is Tatum but also because it was a reminder that maybe, sometimes, I needed more, but that doesn’t mean I’m going anywhere — I know me leaving has always made you scared."
Tatum, 62, is mom to Kevin, as well as daughter Emily, 34, and son Sean, 38, whom she welcomed with John, the legendary championship player to whom she was married for eight years between 1986 and 1994.
© Getty ImagesJohn gained primary custody of their kids amid Tatum's struggles with addiction.
Kevin continued: "But today I can call you Mama, and I do. When I was little, you were my mom, until your boyfriend gave you heroin. You were my mom when you were clean, between rehabs, but then sometimes you were Tatum, too. Tatum used to leave in the middle of the night and sometimes not come back before morning.
© Getty Images"Tatum didn’t have a choice. I used to think Tatum took my mom away. Now I think Mom and Tatum just wanted something different. I think Mom and Tatum didn’t always get along."
In her 2004 autobiography, A Paper Life, Tatum – the youngest person in history to win an Oscars Award for her supporting role opposite Hollywood icon dad Ryan O'Neal in 1973's Paper Moon at the age of 10 – attributed her struggles with addiction to alleged physical and emotional abuse at the hands of her father Ryan.
He always denied her claims.
