Actor Ryan O’Neal was arrested last weekend at his home in Malibu. He was booked on charges that he assaulted his 42-year-old son Griffin with a deadly weapon. The Sheriff’s deputies arrived at his home Saturday night at 12:30 am. They said Ryan had fired at least one shot from a gun during the fight. Ryan has said he fired in self-defense. He was booked then released at 5:30 a.m. after posting he posted a $50,000 bail.
It is sad that all this news comes just a few days after it was announced that long time love Farrah Fawcett was cancer free. I read that Ryan, himself a leukemia survivor, had offered Farrah a lot of support during her chemo and surgey, even though the two were no longer a couple. I thought maybe age had mellowed Ryan, but apparently not.
Griffin is the son of Ryan and actress Joanna Moore. Academy award winning actress Tatum O’Neal is his sister. This is not the first time Griffin has made the headlines. In fact, most of the O’Neal family has had no problem making headlines for things other than their acting.
Griffin’s friend Gian-Carlo Coppola (Francis Ford Coppola’s son) was killed in a 1986 boating accident in which Griffin was found guilty of recklessness. He served 18 days in jail when he did not perform the 400 hours of community service as ordered in his sentencing. Griffin’s brushes with the law did not stop there. He pleaded no contest to drunk driving in 1989 and spent a year in court ordered rehab in 1992 after he shot up his ex-girlfriend’s car.
Ryan’s daughter Tatum had suffered tribulations of her own. She published a memoir titled “A Paper Life” which told of her trouble childhood and her battles with her dad, Farrah, and ex-husband John McEnroe. I do not know if she and Ryan are speaking now, but I know they went years without talking at one time. She has had numerous stints in rehab due to her addiction to drugs and lost custody of her three children.
Redmond, the son of Ryan and Farrah, has also been in and out of rehab many times. He was ordered into rehab in 2004 when prosecutors agreed to dismiss a forgery charge, but he failed to complete that stay. The judge then ordered him to complete a one-year program. Reports were that he had been clean of late, but went back to using drugs after he learned of his mother’s illness.
It’s so sad that such a gorgeous and talented family is haunted by such problems.