Tatum O’Neal reveals she had a near-fatal stroke: ‘I almost died’
People magazine.During the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, the “Paper Moon” child star started abusing her prescription medication, prescribed for body aches and rheumatoid arthritis.A few months later, in May, a friend found the Oscar winner overdosed on pain medications, opiates and morphine in her Los Angeles apartment.The news did not surprise her son, Kevin McEnroe, 37, the oldest of her three kids with former husband tennis legend John McEnroe.“It was the phone call we’d always been waiting for,” her son confessed.O’Neal, 59, struggled with her mental health during the pandemic, “COVID, chronic pain, all these things led to a place of isolation. In that place, I don’t think, for her, there was much hope.”The actress was rushed to the hospital and was diagnosed with aphasia, a disorder that results from damage to the part of the brain that is responsible for language, according to the NIH.“She was in a coma,” said Kevin.