Well, let me tell ya ’bout this John McEnroe and Tatum O’Neal. He was a tennis fella, real good with that racket, and she was a movie star, started young, real young. Folks said they was a big deal back in the day. Big deal, I tell ya!
They got hitched in 1986, August it was. Had a big to-do, church wedding and all. Family and friends, the whole shebang. Happened in Oyster Bay, Long Island, near where John’s folks lived. Sounded fancy, that Oyster Bay. Can’t say I’ve ever been to a place with oysters, just catfish and sometimes bass if we’re lucky.
- Married in 1986
- Big church wedding
- Oyster Bay, Long Island
Now, they had themselves some kids, three of ‘em. Kevin, Emily, and Sean. Cute little tykes, I reckon, at least when they was little. But things weren’t always sunshine and roses for these two. Marriage ain’t easy, no sir, not for nobody. And bein’ famous, well, that just makes it harder, I guess.
They lasted eight years, which is longer than some, shorter than others. Eight years, and then boom, it was over in 1994. Divorce, they called it. Split up like a rotten log. Happens all the time, even to the fancy folks. First, they said they’d share the kids, you know, joint custody. But then things got messy, real messy.
See, Tatum, she had a problem. A real bad problem. Drugs, they was. Heroin, they called it. Bad stuff, that heroin. Tears folks apart, it does. So, in 1998, John, he got the kids all to himself. Sole custody, that’s what they called it. Poor kids, havin’ to see their mama like that. It ain’t right, it ain’t.
Tatum, she was born in 1963, Los Angeles. A California gal. Started actin’ when she was just a little bitty thing, 10 years old. Ten years old and already a star! Can you imagine? I was milkin’ cows at ten. Times was different then, I reckon.
John, he was 27 when they got married, and Tatum was 22. Young folks, both of ‘em. But young don’t always mean happy, does it? Nope, it surely don’t. Life’s got a way of throwin’ ya curveballs, just when you think you got it all figured out.
Now, I hear Tatum’s doin’ alright now. Focusin’ on bein’ happy, they say. Good for her, I say. Everyone deserves a little happiness, even if they messed up in the past. Life’s too short to be miserable all the time. Gotta pick yourself up and keep on goin’, that’s what I always say. Ain’t no use cryin’ over spilt milk, or in this case, a busted marriage and a drug problem. Just gotta move on, find somethin’ good to hold on to.
And John? Well, he went on with his tennis and his life. Raised them kids, I reckon. He was good at tennis, that John. Fussy sometimes, always yellin’ at the refs, but a good player nonetheless. Guess he figured out life after Tatum, just like she figured out life after him. That’s how it goes, ain’t it? You live, you learn, you move on. And sometimes, you just gotta shake your head and say, “Well, I’ll be darned.”
So that’s the story of John McEnroe and Tatum O’Neal, as far as I know it. A whirlwind romance, a messy divorce, and a whole lotta heartache in between. But life goes on, like I said. It always does.
Tags: [John McEnroe, Tatum O’Neal, Marriage, Divorce, Tennis, Actress, Children, Custody, Heroin, Addiction]
