A Paper Life
by Tatum O'Neal
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Book Summary Information
Author: Tatum O'NealEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2004-10-12
ISBN: 0060540974
Number of pages: 304
Publisher: HarperEntertainment
Book Reviews of A Paper Life
Book Review: A cautionary tail full of amazement, shock, and sadness
Summary: 5 Stars
"I want to thank my director and my father." This was the acceptance speech from eight-year-old Tatum O'Neal, the youngest Oscar winner in history. Such professional words for such a little girl. Sadly, in her new autobiography, we see just how much Tatum's young life mirrored that of Addie, her character in Paper Moon, the world-weary, clever little con-girl (a comparison not lost on the author).
You would think that winning the highest accolade an actor can aspire to would have made life wonderful for a little girl. But as Tatum details, life was anything but. Apparently, after her Oscar win, her father, actor Ryan O'Neal --- who was her co-star in the movie --- slugged her. And after The Bad News Bears was a runaway hit, he slugged her again. Par for the course of this rocky family relationship. Tatum dealt with abandonment, drug abuse, molestation, and physical and verbal abuse. And the cycle seemed to repeat itself during her tumultuous six-year marriage to tennis great John McEnroe. The loneliness and worthlessness she felt her entire life made her succumb to what she refers to as the "O'Neal curse" --- drug addiction.
Tatum was born in 1963 in southern California to two young actors: fresh-faced Ryan O'Neal, then a heartthrob on TV's "Peyton Place," and Georgia-born Joanna Moore, who, along with most of the O'Neals, battled with alcohol and pills her entire life. In addition to a tempestuous relationship with her volatile father, Tatum talks about her difficult, strained relationship with her mother, who was usually passed out from a combination of pills and alcohol, leaving young Tatum alone with many of her mother's shady boyfriends, one of whom molested her.
After her success with Paper Moon, the challenges with both parents only grew harder. Instead of a young preteen playing with Barbies, she was her father's escort to parties at the Playboy mansion. On a trip to Europe, young Tatum, desperate for a mother figure, brings along friend Melanie Griffith for company. When she can't find Melanie in their hotel room, she goes to her father's suite, where she discovers her 18-year-old friend having sex with Ryan. Being around such scenes made it easy for her to start using drugs and alcohol, which became the thorn in her side throughout much of her life.
In her early twenties, Tatum met and quickly fell in love with the hot-tempered tennis champ John McEnroe. Shortly after they began dating, she became pregnant with the first of three children. They were married just months after the birth of their first son, Kevin. Two other children --- a boy, Sean, and a girl, Emily --- quickly followed, and the strain of balancing a family and dealing with her husband's demanding career left Tatum no time for a career of her own. The cracks in the facade appeared almost immediately after their wedding, and Tatum claims it was her husband's volatile nature (not unlike her father's) that made life together unbearable. Dealing with McEnroe's crack team of lawyers over custody issues and marital assets drove her back to a life of drugging. (One gets a slightly different version in McEnroe's book, YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS).
When her young daughter came in and found her with a syringe, Tatum knew she had to change. It took many visits to rehab facilities, but today a clean and sober Tatum O'Neal feels that she is finally back on track and ready to reclaim her life.
A PAPER LIFE is a compulsively readable cautionary tale that fills one with amazement, shock and sadness. At the end, you find yourself rooting for this "victim of Hollywood" and hoping she is able to regain some semblance of normality in her life.
(...)
Summary of A Paper Life
At age ten, Tatum O'Neal became the youngest Oscar winner in history for her performance in the film classic Paper Moon. She was hailed as a new kind of child star -- sassy and precocious -- for a hip, cynical age. As the sidekick to her father, the flamboyant star and man-about-town Ryan O'Neal, she became a fixture at the most glamorous Hollywood parties and counted celebrities ranging from Cher to Stanley Kubrick among her childhood friends.But behind the glittering facade of Tatum's life lay heartbreak: abandonment, abuse, and neglect. Her alcoholic mother, the actress Joanna Moore, drifted in and out of her life. Her father, saddled with both Tatum and her brother Griffin, grew increasingly punishing and distant, especially after moving in with his longtime love, Farrah Fawcett. By her late teens, Tatum -- though a working actress with ten movies to her credit -- had begun a perilous slide into self-destruction.
Then, just before her twenty-first birthday, Tatum met the man who would become her husband: the explosive tennis great John McEnroe. They had three children, Kevin, Sean, and Emily, in quick succession, followed by one of the messiest high-profile divorces on record. With the collapse of her marriage and no real family to turn to, Tatum succumbed to the demons of her past, which would nearly kill her.
Now she has emerged clean and sober, rediscovering herself as an actress, mother, and wonderfully vibrant woman in what she considers the prime of her life.
A Paper Life is a story of strength and courage: unflinchingly honest, yet poignant, often funny, and unfailingly uplifting. It is a tale of triumph steeped in Hollywood lore -- and an inspiring testament to the healing power of love.
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