Actress Tatum O’Neal Busted

How’s this for embarrassing?
Recently, Actress Tatum O’Neal has been seen mostly in her recurring role on Denis Leary’s FX dramedy Rescue Me. The 44-year-old daughter of Ryan O’Neal is also the youngest Oscar winner ever following her win for Paper Moon at the tender age of ten. Now the ex-wife of tennis legend John McEnroe can add crack and cocaine arrestee to that impressive resume after getting caught red-handed yesterday buying the drugs from a dealer near her upscale apartment in lower Manhattan.
Shocking as the arrest alone is, the embarrassing part I refer to above is O’Neal’s reported response upon getting busted. After asking officers, “You know who I am, right?” the former heroin addict allegedly proceeded to claim she was conducting research for a role as a junkie.
When that didn’t fly, she then resorted to begging. Local newspaper the New York Daily News has her saying to officers, “I’ve been clean for a long time. Today was the first time I was relapsing, but you guys saved me! Can you let me go?”
I feel bad for the actress, whether she’s telling the truth or not, and I know she feels bad, too, because she was charged with seventh-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance, a misdemeanor offense. In addition, she now has to endure the embarrassment of this incident being reported and mocked all over the world ad nauseam.
Yes, Tatum, if they didn’t know who you were before, they do now. Everybody does, and no one will be forgetting anytime soon either, unfortunately. That’s yet another argument against buying illegal drugs in public areas, not that doing it in private is any better.
Oh, and the “suspected” dealer, 33-year-old Alan Garcia, was arrested and charged, too.
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2 opinions for Actress Tatum O’Neal Busted
Tatum O’Neal Still Has Her ‘Rescue Me’ Gig Despite Arrest
Jun 20, 2008 at 4:32 am
[...] back at the beginning of this month, when Oscar-winning actress Tatum O’Neal was arrested for trying to buy illegal drugs on a New York City street? Well, if you thought such a public [...]
Tatum O’Neal Talks to Oprah Today
Sep 12, 2008 at 12:58 pm
[...] TV today. As you might recall, the Rescue Me cast member, a previously recovered drug addict, was arrested for buying crack and cocaine on a New York City street back in [...]
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