Famous actress Tatum O’Neal revealed she nearly died in May 2020 after overdosing on drugs and ending up in a coma.
“I almost died,” O’Neal said during a recent interview with People. The actress explained that her overdose led to a life-altering stroke, which left her in a coma for six long weeks.
O’Neal became addicted to prescription medication she was given for neck and back pain and rheumatoid arthritis. On the day of her overdose, she had taken a combination of pain medication, opiates, and morphine.
O’Neal’s family knew she was heading toward a dangerous path as her struggle with addiction worsened. “It was the phone call we’d always been waiting for,” said her eldest son, Kevin McEnroe. “There were times we didn’t think she was going to survive,” he said, according to People.
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O’Neal’s overdose resulted in a number of serious health issues that the famous actress had to battle all at once.
“She also had a cardiac arrest and a number of seizures,” McEnroe said. O’Neal’s children feared that if she woke up from the coma, she would never walk or speak again.
O’Neal was diagnosed with aphasia, which is caused by damage to the part of her brain that is responsible for her ability to speak, “and had damage to her right frontal cortex,” McEnroe said.
“At times, it was touch and go,” he said.
“I had to call my brother and sister and say she was thought to be blind, deaf and potentially might never speak again.”
After a grueling six weeks, O’Neal came out of the coma, and it was immediately apparent that she had a long road to recovery ahead.
“She didn’t know where she was,” Kevin said.
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“She couldn’t say, ‘I’m scared,” he said to People.
It was a challenging time for O’Neal’s family, as they were unable to visit her in the hospital, or even hold her hand, due to strict COVID protocols that were in place at the time.
O’Neal spent the past 3 years in intense rehabilitation and therapy, trying to regain her strength, memory, and basic skills. (RELATED: Soap Opera Legend Reveals Major Health Update)
“I’ve been through a lot,” she said.