My bruising battle with arthritis, by Tatum O’Neal, 56
OSCAR winner Tatum O’Neal has spoken out about her battle with rheumatoid arthritis, sharing pictures of her scarred body.
The actress, 56, referred to herself as a ‘warrior’ as she documented her symptoms on Instagram.
Miss O’Neal, who won the best supporting actress Oscar at age ten in 1974 when she starred alongside her father Ryan O’Neal in Paper Moon, wrote: ‘All those red marks are from heating pads. I probably should turn those down a little bit. Believe it or not, this is me actually getting better.’
She described other marks: ‘A fall scar on my right hip. And the back surgery scar from eight years ago.
‘My last back surgery scar is on the front from February.’
Miss O’Neal, whose mother was the
‘This is me actually getting better’
actress Joanna Moore, added that people should not take it personally if she doesn’t reply to their messages as her ‘hands suck right now’ as a result of the chronic inflammatory disorder, making it difficult to type.
She has three children, Kevin, Sean and Emily with ex-tennis star John McEnroe, whom she married in 1986. They divorced in 1994.
The actress said her children had been ‘pretty great’ but that she had to ‘restructure’ her friends and support system ‘to find a core group’ who were able to help her.
After starring as Addie in Paper Moon, Miss O’Neal appeared in The
Bad News Bears, International Velvet and Nickelodeon.
She featured alongside her father in the reality TV series Ryan And Tatum: The O’Neals in 2011 as she attempted to heal a 25-year rift with the Love Story star, who is now 78.
Miss O’Neal was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis in the same year, but had a period of remission until about five months ago, when her joints became inflamed again.
The auto-immune disease causes the immune system to attack the cells lining joints, making them swollen, stiff and painful. This can lead to joint, cartilage and bone damage.