Ryan O'Neal Blasts Oprah, Calls Reunion with Tatum Fake
You Mean Reality Television Isn't Real?
Despite making it look as though Ryan O'Neal and estranged daughter Tatum had reconnected on their OWN network reality series Ryan and Tatum: The O'Neals, the actor reveals the reunion was only for the sake of the show.
The series chronicled Tatum's move back to Los Angeles in an attempt to make ammends with her father, but Ryan told TV Guide that instead of helping the father-daughter duo, the show made their relationship worse -- something that hardly even seems possible.
Read: Ryan O'Neal Says Tatum Faked Suicide
"We only reconciled on the show," he said in the interview. "Not in life. In fact, we're further apart now than we were when we started the show. So thanks, Oprah, for all your help."
Ryan claims that he and Tatum are no longer on speaking terms.
Problems between the two came to light 25 years ago and in 2004 Tatum penned the autobiography A Paper Life (a riff on her oscar-winning turn in Paper Moon at age 10 - a movie in which she co-starred with her dad) in which she alleges sexual abuse by a male friend of her father's, and both physical and emotional abuse from Ryan himself.
Read: Ryan O'Neal Discusses Farrah Fawcett Oscar Snub
Tatum isn't the only one making controversial claims. Ryan blames Farrah Fawcett's cancer in part on his dysfunctional family.
"There was turmoil during my love affair with Farrah, a lot of it caused by my family, by my kids, all of them, but Tatum in particular," he said last June during an appearance on Piers Morgan Tonight. "And I just think, if she had never met us, would she still be alive today? Because nobody knows what causes cancer, do they?"
Ryan, 70, was expected to join the cast of Dancing with the Stars this season, but a knee injury has prevented him from participating in the show. And, now that he's dissed the almighty Oprah, we'll be surprised if he ever works on TV again.
