‘Woke Up in a Coma Without..’- John McEnroe’s Ex-Wife Revisits a Harrowing Experience as She Strives to Undo Life-Altering Damage

Life hasn’t been easy for Tatum O’Neal, the ex-wife of John McEnroe. Standing alongside Peter Fleming, McEnroe went on to win 52 doubles titles. Unfortunately, McEnroe didn’t get to cherish a similar partnership off the court. McEnroe and O’Neal struggled a lot in their time together as a married couple from 1986 to 1994. Their separation was followed by a battle for the legal custody of their children. Due to the overwhelming stress, O’Neal could feel the re-emergence of her drug problems. As she developed a heroin addiction soon, McEnroe got to keep the children. To O’Neal’s horror, this was just the beginning of her suffering.

Many decades after the separation of John McEnroe and Tatum O’Neal, O’Neal’s drug addiction kept worsening. Being the youngest person to win an Academy Award, O’Neal found adulthood to be a prison of pain. McEnroe went on to marry Patty Smith in 1997, while O’Neal still tried to figure out her problems with addiction. Through a recent post, Peter Morley conveys the story of O’Neal’s recovery. The words of O’Neal truly capture her scuffle with life added with a will to move forward. It is not just any basic story of drug abuse.

Being alive was a miracle for Tatum O’Neal

Tatum O’Neal suffered from recurrent challenges on her way toward a healthy life. Every time O’Neal stopped using, something or the other pulled her back. The journey towards a sober life turned out to be insanely difficult. Apart from drugs, O’Neal found herself addicted to a number of pain medications that were prescribed for her neck pain and rheumatoid arthritis. At the time when Covid-19 was at large, O’Neal suffered a severe stroke because of a drug overdose. She slept in a coma for the next six weeks.

Tatum O’Neal woke up into a nightmare, and sadly it was not a dream. She said, “I woke up in a coma without any words, without anything. I don’t know where I was, I didn’t know what to think, I didn’t know what to do and I had no, no, no words at all.” O’Neal suffered a lot,  and after the time she spent unconscious, she didn’t know how to behave as a conscious being anymore.

Tatum O’Neal was confused, but so was everyone else. She said, “Nobody could figure out what was going to go on, if I was gonna die it if I was going to live. And I lived. It is a miracle.”  

Losing her grip on reality on multiple occasions taught O’Neal to truly understand the beauty of being alive. As O’Neal appreciates the value of life, her struggles continue, but this time she has made her final decision.

READ MORE: A Shocked John McEnroe Revealed Final Words of His First Wife Tatum O’ Neal Before Parting Ways: ‘You’ll Thank Me for This’

Crying acted as a cure for Tatum O’Neal

Opening up on her current challenges, Tatum O’Neal said, “I still can’t really read and write yet.” However, amidst a life surrounded by hardships, an underrated cure helped O’Neal feel better. She said, “I’ve had a hard, hard, hard, hard, hard life. And I rarely cry but I am crying a lot more lately, and that, that’s a very good thing for my life.” As O’Neal continues to discover her healing potential, she has still a long way to go.

Tatum O’Neal has realized the true essence of being sober. She confidently said, “To be sober is the part about going forward and not back. I don’t want to drink anymore and I don’t want to use anymore. But I’m doing much better about that.” The most important part of O’Neal’s journey has a lot to do with her efforts to get better, and even though she failed a lot of times, she tried again.

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