Photos: BauerGriffinOnline
Plagued with problems with drug use since her troubled childhood, the Paper Moon actress was busted in a drug sweep on the lower East Side around 7:30 p.m. The former Dancing with the Stars contestant solicited drugs from a homeless man and when she was searched by police, they found cocaine, crack and a crack pipe on her person.
Initially, O'Neal claimed she was "doing research for a part." However, after the search revealed the drug paraphernalia, Tatum broke down and started crying. O'Neal told officers, "Today was the first time I was relapsing, but you guys saved me! Can you let me go?"
The former child star was arrested and charged with a misdemeanor, seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance. Her 2004 memoir A Paper Life chronicled her struggle with heroin addiction, childhood abuse and a turbulent relationship with tennis star John McEnroe.
On the bright side, at least she wasn't driving. Right?
Julie says:
This is so sad. I read her book "A Paper Life" and she has been struggling from the beginning. Her dad was jealous of her success and her mother was out of picture a lot. Her circumstances growing up were terrible. I hope she receives the help she needs.
green cardigan says:
I agree her life has been sad and turbulent, but on the other hand she's been given opportunities others don't get in life and taking drugs is her own choice so she is just going to have to live with the consequences. i don't have too much pity for her. It's her children that are going to suffer the most.
Zekers says:
I was thinking of her children too...very sad for them.
leilah says:
The news article said that the drug dealer *said* he was homeless; more likely, he was trying to avoid a search warrant of his home.
But I'll bet Britney is cackling!! "Yeah, Tatum, I've got some advice for YOU: if you can't afford to have your scummy 'manager', attention-hungry cousin or the hired help score your drugs -- you can't afford them! B!tch is out buyin' drugs on a street corner and has the nerve to give ME advice..."
S_M_G says:
So sad for her kids :-(
And Ryan O'Neal was jealous of Tatum? I would highly doubt that!
Mary says:
Too bad there's a statute of limitations on parental negligence and child abuse. Ryan O'Neal should have been hauled up on charges long ago. He is the personification of evil, for his self-centered, depraved indifference, for all these years.
Poor Tatum. Still suffering from never having received parental love. How could she be expected to have principles and strength of character after what she's been through and how she's been raised? Thanks to their father, her children have
no idea what it is like to have been raised the way Tatum was. But they can still be proud of her, despite her flaws and mistakes, because she tries, and because she loves them.
The public has forgiven Robert Downey and other men their drug relapses, and these men were never molested and grossly neglected, the way Tatum has been. When will someone in her life step up and help her? It seems that almost everyone who's ever been intimate with her has failed her. She's worth fighting for. Poor, poor woman.
She has soldiered on alone so gallantly, for so long, and now she may be on the verge of giving up. A stuggle as noble as hers has been, deserves to be rewarded. I hope someone in a position to help her, does, before it's too late. Good luck to you, Tatum. I have spoken to two other women, today, who feel the same way. There is public support for Tatum. I hope it reaches her to provide her with some small level of comfort. It's a damn shame.
Mary says:
I forgot to say, that although today is a low-point for her, I think Tatum is a wonderful, unique, and exceptionally talented person and that she deserves a medal. She has often acted heroically.
She is the poster- child for child abuse and the DYFUS people should enlist her support in their campaign against child abuse. When this bad publicity is all over and she recovers, she'd make a great spokesperson for the NJ Heart Gallery Adoption Campaign, helping abused chilodren to find new homes.
Tom Turkee says:
Not one person who posted here knows all the facts ergo they're just running off their mouths.