Actor Ryan O’Neal was in a relationship with actress Farrah Fawcett after his failed marriages to his ex-spouses Leigh Taylor-Young, and Joanna Moore. He had four kids with them before he died. Details.
Hollywood has lost one of its legendary personalities as the world mourns the passing of Los Angeles native, Ryan O’Neal.
O’Neal was a former American amateur boxer-turned-actor.
Making his acting debut in 1960, he gained prominence in 1964 after he landed in an instant hit movie role of Rodney Harrington on the ABC nighttime soap opera Peyton Place.
He passed aged 82 ‘peacefully’ after previously beating leukemia & prostate cancer. The Love Story actor’s son, Patrick O’Neal, announced the sad news on Friday.
Following the tragic news about his passing, a lot of fans are curious to know more about his interesting love life and family. Keep reading to learn more about his partner, and ex-spouses as well as who his children are.
Ryan O’Neal famously dated actress Farrah Fawcett.
Ryan O’Neal, the US actor whose boyish good looks and Oscar-nominated turn in Love Story turned him into a national heartthrob, famously dated Farrah Fawcett.
Fawcett and O’Neal had an off-and-on relationship that spanned three decades and produced a son, Redmond O’Neal, in 1985.
The actress became an international sex symbol in the 1970s for her famous swimsuit poster and her role as one of a trio of female private detectives on the hit television show, Charlie’s Angels.
Fawcett ended the relationship after she discovered O’Neal in bed with actress Leslie Stefanson.
They rekindled their relationship shortly before Fawcett died from anal cancer at the age of 62 in 2009.
After her death, O’Neal wrote the book Both of Us: My Life with Farrah, which was published in 2012.
The actor, who suffered from multiple health issues, starting in 2001 with chronic myelogenous leukemia, had his health in a declining state following Farrah’s passing.
The source said: “Besides stumbling out to the beach to watch the sunset, he doesn’t have anything to look forward to.
“Acting and Farrah were his two passions in life and they’re both gone.”
Who are Ryan O’Neal’s ex-wives; Leigh Taylor-Young and Joanna Moore?
Ryan O’Neal was married twice before meeting and starting a relationship with four-time Primetime Emmy Award nominee and six-time Golden Globe Award nominee, Farrah Fawcett.
The names of his ex-spouses are Leigh Taylor-Young and Joanna Moore.
O’Neal married his first wife, actress Joanna Moore, in 1963. At the time, he was 22 and she was 29 years old.
The pair was a couple for four years before splitting in 1966.
Ryan and Joanne were parents of two but she lost custody of them due to her alcoholism and drug addiction.
Joanna Moore was born on November 10, 1934, in Parrott, Georgia, United States. She was an American film and television actress, who, between 1956 and 1976, appeared in 17 feature films and guest-starred in nearly a hundred television series episodes.
She sadly passed away on November 22, 1997, in Indian Wells, California, United States.
His second marriage was to actress Leigh Taylor-Young, with whom he had a son.
The former couple tied the knot in 1967 when he was 26 years old and she was 22 years old.
They remained as a couple for seven years but divorced in 1974. Since splitting, they remained friends. “I could speak to parts of Ryan like temper and volatility and reactivity, but I deeply know his goodness”, Taylor-Young said.
Who else did Ryan O’Neal date?
Despite being married, O’Neal was in extra-marital affairs with other women.
Interestingly, he didn’t shy away from commenting on the women he has dated.
“I got married at 21, and I was not a real mature 21”, said O’Neal. “My first child was born when I was 22. I was a man’s man; I didn’t discover women until I was married, and then it was too late.”
He had romances with Ursula Andress, Bianca Jagger, Anouk Aimée, Jacqueline Bisset, Barbra Streisand, Joan Collins, Diana Ross, and Anjelica Huston.
According to his daughter Tatum O’Neal, he also had an affair with Melanie Griffith.
In her 2014 memoir, Anjelica Huston claimed that O’Neal physically abused her.
Who are Ryan O’Neal’s children?
Ryan O’Neal did not only have an impressive career that spanned over 5 decades, he was a father and a proud one.
The famed actor had four children; three sons and a daughter.
The names of O’Neal’s four children are Tatum O’Neal, Redmond O’Neal, Patrick O’Neal, and Griffin O’Neal.
He had his kids with three of the women who had been in his life, publicly. Sadly, his relationships with them were complicated.
He shares Tatum and Griffin with Moore, Patrick O’Neal with Taylor-Young, and Redmond James Fawcett O’Neal with Fawcett.
What does Ryan O’Neal’s children do now? All of the late actor’s kids are also as famous as him. They followed in his footsteps in acting.
Redmond is an actor known for Love Don’t Cost a Thing.
Actress Tatum, also an author, is the youngest person ever to win a competitive Academy Award.
Griffin O’Neal was born on October 28, 1964, in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is an actor, known for The Wraith (1986), and April Fool’s Day (1986) just to mention a few.
His son, Patrick is an actor as well as a sportscaster who was born on September 14, 1967, in Santa Monica, California, United States.
O’Neal had a total of five grandchildren. Two grandsons and a granddaughter were born of his daughter Tatum’s marriage with tennis player John McEnroe. Two granddaughters were born of his son Patrick’s relationship with actress Rebecca De Mornay.
Ryan O’Neal had an estranged relationship with his kids.
For several years, O’Neal was estranged from his elder three children. “I’m a hopeless father. I don’t know why. I don’t think I was supposed to be a father. Just look around at my work—they’re either in jail or they should be”, he told Vanity Fair.
In 2004, Tatum detailed her dysfunctional relationship with her father in her autobiography, A Paper Life. She also told how she suffered physical and emotional abuse as a result of her father’s drug abuse.
Meanwhile, Redmond was arrested on attempted murder charges in May 2018, and deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial in 2019, according to Radar Online.
Griffin also suggested their family’s problems stemmed from Ryan. “My father gave me cocaine when I was 11 and insisted I take it”, he said. Griffin added, “He was a very abusive, narcissistic psychopath. He gets so mad he can’t control anything he’s doing.”
In 2010, O’Neal told People Fawcett’s death in 2009 played “a very big role” in their reconciliation.
“She brought us back together,” Tatum said.
She also revealed it was her father who extended the olive branch.
“He told me he’s sorry. He’s all I have in terms of family, and I needed him in my life,” she shared at the time.
“My dad was absolutely everything to me.”
Ryan O’Neal’s son Patrick confirmed his death
When O’Neal’s death was reported on December 8, 2023, by TMZ, his son Patrick shared the tragic news in an Instagram post, writing: “So this is the toughest thing I’ve ever had to say but here we go.
“My dad passed away peacefully today, with his loving team by his side supporting him and loving him as he would us.
“This is very difficult for my wife Summer and I, but I will share some feelings to give you an idea of how great a man he is.
“My father Ryan O’Neal has always been my hero. I looked up to him and he was always bigger than life. When I was born in 1967 my dad was already a TV star on Peyton Place. That’s where he met my mom Leigh Taylor-Young, and about 9 months later (give or take a date night or two) I was born.
“My dad became an international movie star with Love Story at the beginning of the 1970’s, a decade he absolutely crushed by starring in movies like What’s Up, Doc?, Paper Moon, Barry Lyndon, A Bridge Too Far, The Main Event, and The Driver.
“He is a Hollywood legend. Full stop. The growth spurt of the first name Ryan can be traced back to my dad. That’s a fact.
“He was Rodney Harrington on Peyton Place 3 days a week (he starred in 500 shows over 5 years) and then of course the name Ryan peaked after Love Story (the film that saved Paramount Studios and earned my dad a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame).”
On Sunday, September 13, O’Neal’s grandson Sean McEnroe posted a family photo of him with his 56-year-old mother Tatum O’Neal alongside his siblings, Kevin, and Emily.
The caption read: “This is one of the most memorable photos of my life. The last time we were all together was at the 30-year Paper Moon Anniversary in 2003.”
It continued: “I could cry tears of gratitude that everyone in this photo is still alive and that we were all able to come together again after so many years of hardship.
“The entire West Coast is burning, but if the O’Neals can reconcile, truly anything is possible #Reconciliation #Forgiveness #Wholeness #Love #Family.”