A real Hollywood-style tell-all, this is the extremely candid and highly explosive autobiography of one of the movie industry's most talented and troubled young stars.

At age ten, Tatum O'Neal became the youngest Oscar winner in history for her performance in the film classic Paper Moon. As the sidekick to her father, the flamboyant star and man-about-town Ryan O'Neal, she became a fixture at the most glamorous Hollywood parties and counted celebrities ranging from Cher to Stanley Kubrick among her childhood friends.

Yet behind the glittering façade of Tatum's life lay heartbreak: abandonment, abuse, neglect, and drug addiction. She reveals the most intimate secrets of her dysfunctional relationships with her father, Ryan O'Neal, and stepmother, Farrah Fawcett, as well as her alcoholic mother, Joanna Moore, and ex-husband, tennis pro John McEnroe.

After the collapse of her marriage and with no real family to turn to, Tatum succumbed to the demons of her past that would nearly kill her. Now she has emerged clean and sober, rediscovering herself as an actress, mother, and wonderfully vibrant woman in what she considers the prime of her life.

At age 10, O'Neal became the youngest Oscar winner in history for her performance in Paper Moon. In this honest, disturbing memoir, O'Neal, now 41, reveals the behind-the-scenes story of her lonely, chaotic life-one dominated by struggles with drugs and damaging relationships. O'Neal portrays her divorced parents (actors Joanna Moore and Ryan O'Neal) as neglectful and abusive, with drug problems of their own. Though O'Neal appeared in such kid-fodder movies as The Bad News Bears and Little Darlings, she says that during the '70s and early '80s she battled depression and attempted suicide. "I found that coke made me feel so much better," she recounts in the straightforward though unoriginal language that characterizes the narrative. Much of the book's second half covers her fraught marriage to volatile tennis champ John McEnroe; these passages alternate between recollections of the pleasure of being in love and having children and the pain of living with McEnroe, whom she depicts as controlling and demeaning. Ten years and three children later, O'Neal and McEnroe divorced. She resumed using drugs, fought child custody battles and watched her mother die of cancer. Although O'Neal speeds through the details, she addresses her addictions: "I wanted to take my own life but... instead... I started doing drugs 24/7. I couldn't stop." She also zips through her recovery, abruptly claiming "rebirth" in the final chapter. Writing this memoir seems to have been cathartic for O'Neal. Perhaps reading it will provide inspiration to other abuse victims and addicts. (Oct. 12) Forecast: A publicity blitz (Oprah, Today, Dateline, Live with Regis & Kelly, Larry King Live), a serial in People and a push from book clubs will put O'Neal in the spotlight. Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

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