COMEBACK KID –
July 5, 2023 – “I almost died,” she told People. Over the three years since that May 2020 turning point, the 59-year-old actress has been in various rehab and care facilities re-learning how to walk, talk, and more.
Kevin McEnroe, the eldest of her three children with her ex-husband former tennis player John McEnroe, called hearing news of her overdose “the phone call we’d always been waiting for.”
O’Neal is the youngest Oscar winner in history, netting her statuette for best supporting actress at the age of 10 in 1974, for her work in Paper Moon. Her father, Ryan O’Neal, co-starred in the movie. Kevin told People she had been abusing prescription medication toward the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, battling feelings of isolation as well as a chronic pain condition. When she overdosed, it was on these prescriptions, as well as morphine and opiates.
When she awoke from her coma, it was unclear whether O’Neal would be able to speak, see, or hear again.
“At times, it was touch and go,” Kevin said.
She works at her recovery every day, in both rehabilitative therapies and in 12-step groups. Her children said that she continues to regain her vocabulary.
