Tatum O’Neal has joined the parade of Hollywood stars talking about sexual assault — going to social media to declare: “I have been sexually assaulted more than once! It was not my fault when i was 5, 6, 12, 13, 15 — all by older men who I thought were safe! I rarely have known safety, and was always blamed for the assaults and my loudness, and curiosity.” But while Tatum didn’t name name with her latest brave statement, the “Bad News Bear” star has gone public in the past about how she was sexually abused as a child. The troubled star has even been outspoken over her bitter battles with decadent dad Ryan O’Neal, while also addressing her family feud with stepmom Farrah Fawcett — and Tatum’s even told troubling tales of how showbiz pals dragged her into a world of sex and drugs while she was still an underage actress!
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Tatum shocked Hollywood in 2004 with her bombshell memoir "A Paper Life," where she revealed that a drug-dealing friend of her father's had repeatedly molested her as a young girl. Shortly afterwards, 12-year-old Tatum was sent off to Paris with Ryan's 18-year-old girlfriend
Melanie Griffith — where
Roman Polanski invited them to his home, and screened the X-rated art film "Realm of the Senses" for his young guests.
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"He didn’t touch me or do anything at all," wrote Tatum, "but that was a lot to see." But then the book's most shocking anecdote had Tatum claiming Melanie would lead her into new debauchery. Tatum wrote that she was high on opium when nodding off in their shared apartment later in the trip, and woke to see a threesome between Melanie, "Last Tango in Paris" actress Maria Schneider, and a male friend of Maria's.
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"When I raised my head," said Tatum (seen here with
Cher in 1976), "a very confusing scene was taking place before my eyes. Melanie, Maria and a guy were tangled up together...Then one of them reached out for me, drawing me into yet another confusing erotic experience. Overwhelmed with conflicting emotions, I didn't resist."
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Still, Tatum added, she didn't lose her virginity until filming "International Velvet" in 1977, when the 14-year-old star was seduced by a crew member in his thirties. But the next year, Tatum's now revealed in her online statement, she was assaulted "by a 75-year-old man at 15," adding: "I remember everything!"
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Photo credit: Getty Images
Tatum's speaking out now amid
the #MeToo movement blasting Hollywood's worst predators. But she was originally chastened for exposing her Hollywood upbringing after her book was published. Her unrepentant father told
Vanity Fair: "She wrote a book — bitch! How dare she throw our laundry in the street for money!"
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Photo credit: Getty Images
Tatum shocked Hollywood in 2004 with her bombshell memoir "A Paper Life," where she revealed that a drug-dealing friend of her father's had repeatedly molested her as a young girl. Shortly afterwards, 12-year-old Tatum was sent off to Paris with Ryan's 18-year-old girlfriend
Melanie Griffith — where
Roman Polanski invited them to his home, and screened the X-rated art film "Realm of the Senses" for his young guests.
Photo credit: Getty Images
"He didn’t touch me or do anything at all," wrote Tatum, "but that was a lot to see." But then the book's most shocking anecdote had Tatum claiming Melanie would lead her into new debauchery. Tatum wrote that she was high on opium when nodding off in their shared apartment later in the trip, and woke to see a threesome between Melanie, "Last Tango in Paris" actress Maria Schneider, and a male friend of Maria's.
Photo credit: Getty Images
"When I raised my head," said Tatum (seen here with
Cher in 1976), "a very confusing scene was taking place before my eyes. Melanie, Maria and a guy were tangled up together...Then one of them reached out for me, drawing me into yet another confusing erotic experience. Overwhelmed with conflicting emotions, I didn't resist."
Photo credit: Getty Images
Still, Tatum added, she didn't lose her virginity until filming "International Velvet" in 1977, when the 14-year-old star was seduced by a crew member in his thirties. But the next year, Tatum's now revealed in her online statement, she was assaulted "by a 75-year-old man at 15," adding: "I remember everything!"
Photo credit: Getty Images
Tatum's speaking out now amid
the #MeToo movement blasting Hollywood's worst predators. But she was originally chastened for exposing her Hollywood upbringing after her book was published. Her unrepentant father told
Vanity Fair: "She wrote a book — bitch! How dare she throw our laundry in the street for money!"
Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images
