Tatum O’Neal posts tribute to father Ryan O’Neal: "You’ll forever be in my heart"

Tatum O’Neal, daughter of the late Ryan O’Neal, shared a tribute to her father to Instagram on Sunday. “Thank you everyone for all your love and support. He’s in heaven now,” she said in an Instagram video, followed by a montage of pictures of the pair together. “Me & my kids loved you so much, daddy. You’ll forever be in my heart. Keep each other close, everyone. Life is a journey,” she captioned the post.

Tatum previously gave a statement to People about the passing of her father, who died last Friday. “I feel great sorrow with my father’s passing,” she told the outlet. “He meant the world to me. I loved him very much and know he loved me too. I’ll miss him forever, and I feel very lucky that we ended on such good terms.”

Ryan and Tatum were estranged on and off for many years following Tatum’s Oscar-winning performance in Paper Moon. “He loved me, but then hated me, because I won the Academy Award,” Tatum reflected in an interview earlier this year. “Weird shit happened. It kind of went in the wrong direction to happiness.”

Despite the estrangements from his children and numerous other controversies surrounding the actor, his son Patrick wrote that Ryan “has always been my hero” in the announcement of his father’s passing on Instagram. He later condemned unfavorable coverage of Ryan’s legacy, writing, “I will share my father’s legacy forever. I will not be deterred from outside voices that say negative things. If you choose to talk shit about my dad, even though you have no clue what you are talking about, you will get called out.” Patrick went on to add, “Ryan never bragged. But he has bragging rights in Heaven. Especially when it comes to Farrah [Fawcett, Ryan’s longtime partner]. Everyone had the poster, he had the real McCoy. And now they meet again. Farrah and Ryan. He has missed her terribly. What an embrace that must be. Together again.”

Tatum, who suffered a stroke in 2020, reportedly had the opportunity to reunite with her father multiple times before his death. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter earlier this year ahead of a meeting with Ryan, she reflected, “I think he’s gotten a little bit better in his life. I mean, he’s an amazing man, my dad, and I miss him terribly.” Asked if she forgave Ryan, a longtime cancer survivor, she said, “I don’t want him to die. I love him. I love my dad. I mean, I’ve had a hard life with my dad—but I still love him.”