The O’Neal family appears to have reached beyond breaking point as daughter of Ryan O’Neal take sides in the feud that lead to O’Neal’s arrest for assault at the weekend. Tatum has come to the defense of her brother Griffin, who was assaulted by their father in Malibu. She proclaims her brother did not provoke their father when Ryan allegedly assaulted him.
She has declare, “No matter what my dad is saying in the press, Griffin was not trying to start a fight, he was attempting to protect his younger brother Redmond.” Redmond, 21, is Ryan’s son with ‘Charlie’s Angels’ actress Farrah Fawcett. Ryan’s manager Neil Hassman has rubbished her claims, saying: “I would be hesitant to buy into anything Tatum says about her father, or her brothers for that matter.”
Ryan, 65, was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon and negligent discharge of a firearm, after police were called to his Malibu home in the early hours of Saturday morning (03.02.07). He has been released on bail for $50,000. Since the incident more details of the assault have emerged.
Ryan has claimed his reasons for getting the gun he is charged with negligently discharging was in reaction to and only after Griffin started wildly swinging a fireplace poker. The actor says he was grazed in the attack but Griffin’s pregnant 22-year-old girlfriend was struck in the head. Ryan said: “I ducked and he hit his girlfriend. She’s seven months pregnant. I got nervous at that point and fled to my room and got my gun. Griffin came up the stairs so I just fired it into the banister. He fled.”
Tatum is more notoriously known than her brother for her history of feuding with her father and has not spoken to him for years. She revealed something of their turbulent relationship in a shocking tell-all book about her Hollywood childhood. She explicitly tells of the antics of her famous father and his pal’s sordid behavior.
She described herself as “A needy little girl, still haunted by neglect, I clung to him and even to the women in his life — Bianca Jagger, Angelica Huston, Melanie Griffith, and many more. “However, the more love I craved, the more distant and abusive he (Ryan) grew, emotionally and physically,”
In 1986, she went on to marry and divorce tennis star John McEnroe, who she described as a “punishing” man. She claimed he took out his tennis court frustrations on her at home, sometimes hitting her, an allegation, which he denied in his own 2002 autobiography. She descended into drug addiction and later lost the custody of her three children by McEnroe when the pair divorced in 1994.
The latest family bust up between Ryan and Griffith will no doubt see the already long standing feud and bitter resentments of Ryan’s children towards him continue for sometime to come. Like Tatum, her brother Griffith also blames his father for his pregnant girlfriend’s injuries suffered during a confrontation. A lawyer for Griffin O’Neal told reporters Wednesday that his client believes his father is responsible.
Joanna Berry, who is expecting a baby at the end of March, suffered facial lacerations that required eight stitches, as well as head trauma and a corneal abrasion during the confrontation, attorney Gloria Allred confirmed.
