Tatum O'Neal's son pens emotional essay on his mom's past drug use

Kevin McEnroe, son of actress Tatum O'Neal and former tennis star John McEnroe, wrote a heartfelt Mother’s Day essay describing his mother’s decades‑long battle with drug addiction, her 2020 stroke and recent sobriety, while also revealing his own past substance‑abuse struggles and emphasizing forgiveness and hope.

Tatum O'Neal's son is opening up about the Oscar-winning actress' battle with addiction in an emotional, empathetic essay for Mother's Day.

Kevin McEnroe, whose parents are O'Neal and tennis player John McEnroe, published a vulnerable essay for The Small Bow on May 7 written in the form of a letter to his mom. In the piece, he said the "Paper Moon" star, 62, wasn't "always a mom" to him, and he described how difficult it was watching her deal with drug addiction. But he ultimately concluded by offering love and forgiveness.

McEnroe wrote to O'Neal that when he was a kid, "you were my mom, until your boyfriend gave you heroin," adding that she used to "leave in the middle of the night and sometimes not come back before morning."

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"I don't care that one of my earliest memories was you sending me to buy your cigarettes, or that I used to throw away your drugs," he wrote. "I don't care that when I found a mirror, once, on your bathroom counter, your answer was I can do a line, if I want. ... I don't care that you had an overdose, again, which led to a stroke, and brain damage, and then tried to escape from the memory care facility, and then you drank. In a weird way I'm proud of you for that. That's when I knew you were still alive."

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McEnroe told his mom that "I love you even though sometimes you make it hard," and he shared that about a year and a half ago, she was drinking and told him she wanted to kill herself. While he said she initially cursed him out, "then you called me and I helped you," and "You haven't had a drink since then, or a drug, and for that I’m proud of you. I've never really seen you, at anything, really try. But you do today."

McEnroe also reflected on his own substance abuse issues in the piece, noting that he used to abuse alcohol, cocaine and painkillers. "I almost drank myself to death, and you were almost at my funeral," he wrote. "I'm so lucky that I'm like you, because I get it now. Because I empathize I can forgive."

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Later in the essay, he added, "I forgive you, and you forgive me, and we forgive others, because we have to. Otherwise we'd both be dead." He concluded by wishing O'Neal a happy Mother's Day and saying he is "proud" to be her son.