Tragic Details About Farrah Fawcett's Son Redmond

This article contains mentions of domestic violence, drug addiction, and mental health issues.

Not only was Farrah Fawcett a legendary Hollywood icon throughout the '70s and '80s, known best for her role in "Charlie's Angels" and her signature feathered hairstyle, but she was also the mother of a troubled boy. While some celebrities have kids you may not know about, the actor's only son, Redmond O'Neal, hasn't exactly flown under the radar.

Back in 1979, Fawcett divorced her husband of nine years, Lee Majors, after meeting Ryan O'Neal and beginning something of a torrid love affair. A couple years later, three years before their only child together was born, she spoke with Interview Magazine about her hopes for the future. "I'd very much like to have a child," Fawcett divulged. Although they were together for many years, the two never married, meaning Fawcett never officially became a stepmother to Ryan's three children from previous relationships.

But Fawcett had her only son Redmond in 1985, and he unfortunately went on to have a difficult life marred by unfortunate run-ins with the law, addiction, and mental health struggles. Sadly, the Hollywood star never got to see her son flourish before she died in June 2009, and Redmond has since continued down a tragic path.

There are a number of surprising things Hollywood found attractive 50 years ago, from the feathered haircut Farrah Fawcett rocked to gritty, macho characters that pushed the misogynistic beliefs of the era. (See: "Saturday Night Fever" or "The Dukes of Hazzard.") Unfortunately, according to his children, Ryan O'Neal seemed to embody this persona in real life, as well, with the actor's son Griffin O'Neal telling Vanity Fair in September 2009, "He was a very abusive, narcissistic psychopath. He gets so mad he can't control anything he's doing."

In the same article, Ryan admitted that he and Fawcett had begun fighting about their son Redmond when he was still a toddler. He attributed this to his long-time girlfriend's "stubbornness," adding that they used to fight nonstop.

Unfortunately, many of Ryan's children have accused their father of abusive behavior that often involved drugs. It's clear that from early on, Redmond was being raised in a tumultuous, seldom calm environment. When Ryan appeared on "Today" in May 2012, Matt Lauer asked the actor whether he thought he'd been "a bad parent." O'Neal replied, "Looks like it, doesn't it? Sure looks like it."

Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal had an on-again, off-again relationship for 17 years before they finally called it quits in 1997. Their romance came to an end when the "Charlie's Angels" star caught him in bed with another woman. Sadly, Redmond O'Neal was around for a lot of his parents' arguments while they were together, which his father acknowledged in his memoir.

"Suddenly, our 6 year old son is standing in the doorway in his Winnie-the-Pooh pajamas, staring at us," Ryan wrote in his 2009 book, "Both of Us: My Life with Farrah." The actor detailed how Redmond reacted to his parents' explosive quarrel, writing, "[Redmond]'s holding a butcher's knife. ... He points the tip of the blade at his chest. 'I'm going to stab myself if you don't stop it!' That ended the argument."

While many parents often try to stay together for their children, it seemed like Fawcett and Ryan's split was for the betterment of their son, who was 12 when they parted ways. The Hollywood stars announced they would continue to co-parent Redmond amidst their breakup, but they eventually reunited in 2001 after Ryan was diagnosed with leukemia.

Like many children of famous stars, Redmond O'Neal tried his hand at his parents' craft. His half-siblings — Tatum, Griffin, and Patrick O'Neal — had all followed their father into some form of stardom, but sadly, Farrah Fawcett's son wasn't nearly as successful as the rest of them. As a boy, Redmond lent his voice to "Johnny Bravo" and "The Brave Little Toaster Goes to Mars" as minor characters, but it seems that this is as far as he took his acting career. Several years later, in 2003, he was credited as a production assistant in the Nick Cannon movie "Love Don't Cost a Thing," but it was the final project he worked on in Hollywood.

While his career in show biz didn't take off, Redmond's never known a life outside of the public eye. His mom tried to give him a normal upbringing, but as the son of two high-profile stars who had a headline-making relationship, that was easier said than done. "I loved my childhood, and in a way, I feel his has been distorted ... it's been taken too early from him," she told the Los Angeles Times in 1999.

As noted in the aforementioned Los Angeles Times interview, Farrah Fawcett and Ryan O'Neal's son's struggles began at a young age. According to Ryan, Fawcett eventually tried to handle it by sending him to a controversial program. In his tell-all interview with Vanity Fair in 2009, Ryan stated that Fawcett placed Redmond O'Neal into a behavior modification program where he was allegedly physically abused. 

"She put Redmond in a place we couldn't get him out of for 18 months. ... They beat the s*** out of him because he had been caught for marijuana," Ryan recalled. "He lay on the floor for 36 hours, refusing to say he was sorry." According to Ryan, Fawcett apparently stayed busy while their son was in the program and supposedly wasn't too concerned about getting him home. "[S]he had become involved in an art project at the L.A. County Museum, and she didn't want him back," he alleged. Fawcett died two months before the interview was released; she never publicly addressed Redmond's time in this program. 

Redmond O'Neal was not yet 20 years old when he entered into a rehabilitation program in 2004 for heroin use. According to his half-siblings, drugs were prominent in their lives due to their father's use, with Griffin O'Neal telling Vanity Fair, "This man was under the influence the whole freaking time." Sadly, Redmond's half-sister Tatum O'Neal also developed an addiction to heroin in her adult years.

Ryan O'Neal explained to Vanity Fair during his interview with the outlet that, by 2009, his youngest son had already been to 13 rehab programs. "[Redmond]'s had a terrible life," the actor remarked. "He has addictions he can't control; he goes to sleep in his food. This is not a privileged guy." 

In 2008, Tatum spoke to People about her younger sibling's ongoing struggles with addiction. "There is hope for Redmond," she said. "He deserves to have the life a [young man] — going to school, hanging out with friends, getting a job. I wish the best for him."

Sadly, run-ins with the law aren't uncommon in the O'Neal family. From Redmond O'Neal's half-sister's drug-related arrests to a brawl between his half-brother Griffin O'Neal and their father — which resulted in Ryan O'Neal firing a gun — there's been a number of incidents that required police interference. In 2005, Redmond was placed on probation for charges relating to the possession of cocaine and methamphetamine.

A few years later, in January 2008, Farrah Fawcett's son was arrested in Malibu for a DUI and possession of drugs, which led to a probation search eight months later. When police arrived at Redmond's parents' home where he was staying in September 2008, both Ryan and his son were arrested for methamphetamine possession, though the actor later claimed it was his son's stash. "It wasn't mine — I had taken it away from him the night before," Ryan told Vanity Fair the following year. "But when the cops came at 4:30 in the morning, with Farrah there, I wasn't going to say, 'It's his!'" The men were held without bail for several hours, but were ultimately released.

After Ryan and Redmond were arrested, Tatum O'Neal told People that she hoped her dad and younger brother would seek treatment. "I'm really worried about Redmond," she said. "I want them both to get better and get the help they need — especially my brother."

Farrah Fawcett was first diagnosed with anal cancer in 2006. Sadly, despite years of on-going treatments, she died from the illness at the age of 62 three years later. The "Charlie's Angels" star would always be remembered for her '70s hairstyle, dozens of iconic roles, and unfortunately, her family's headline-making antics. Her son Redmond O'Neal wasn't able to be by the actor's side when she died, as the 24 year old was in jail for repeat drug offenses. Ryan O'Neal requested that his son spare Fawcett from the news of his latest arrest, instead telling her that Redmond couldn't be there because he was in rehab.

As Ryan told People at the time, Redmond spoke with Fawcett over the phone and told her "how much he loved her and asked her to please forgive him [and] that he was so very, very sorry." Despite being in jail when his mother died, Redmond appeared next to her deathbed in shackles to film a staged farewell video following her death. He did, however, attend Fawcett's funeral, still in chains, and served as a pallbearer alongside his grief-stricken father.

All of Ryan O'Neal's children have encountered some form of difficulty in their lives, but Redmond O'Neal's struggles seem to never end. From the time he was first caught by the police with drugs, he's been in and out of jail over various narcotics charges. In September 2011, Redmond's probation was revoked for the first time after he admitted to continuing using drugs while in treatment, which was a part of his sentencing.

Then, in May 2015, Farrah Fawcett's son ran into trouble yet again when he was found to have continued his drug use while on probation and hadn't been attending court-ordered doctors appointments. Redmond's probation was again revoked and he was sentenced to three years behind bars, however, he was released after one year and placed back on parole.

His half-sister Tatum O'Neil spoke with People at the time about her concerns for Redmond, as he continued down the road of crime and addiction. Although she loves him, Tatum explained that she's truly worried for his well being. "I have never seen a more scary side of addiction. He's got addiction problems so bad that it breaks my heart," she explained. "From what I've seen, there is no way he's going to survive."

Redmond O'Neal was charged with attempted murder, among other charges, in June 2018, following his biggest crime spree to date. The only son of Farrah Fawcett was arrested the previous month after being identified as the suspect in an armed robbery of a 7-Eleven convenience store, and law enforcement shortly after tied him to a string of violent incidents that had occurred throughout the week.

Between May 2 and May 8, a man fitting Redmond's description attacked four people and threatened one other. He used a knife in several of the assaults, leaving his victims with injuries ranging from minor to serious. LAPD Sgt. Scotty Steven spoke with ABC News at the time, explaining that the motives weren't clear to them. "They all seem to be random. It appears, though, based on what we know now, that it just started as an argument between unknown persons and quickly escalated with the violent acts," he said. One of the victims, a man named Ken Fox, filed a lawsuit, alleging Redmond used a homophobic slur before hitting him across the face with a bottle.  "In my opinion he is competent enough to know exactly what he was doing. He wanted to hurt an old, weak, defenseless gay man. ... And he did hurt me," he said in a press conference, as reported by USA Today.

Following his crime spree, Redmond was taken into custody, where he's remained since. In 2019, he was deemed mentally incompetent to stand trial and was transferred to a mental hospital, where he's been receiving treatment ever since.

After Redmond O'Neal and Ryan O'Neal were arrested in 2008 on methamphetamine possession charges, Griffin O'Neal suggested to People that his younger half-brother, who was 23 years old at the time, was a product of a bad environment. "It's a very screwed-up family," Griffin said. "If you want to be emotionally healthy and strong, you've got to get out ... It's a truly sad situation." Years later, after Redmond was arrested for assaulting multiple innocent bystanders, he would blame his parents — especially his dad — for where he has ended up.

In his aforementioned interview with RadarOnline, Redmond stated, "It's not the drugs that have been a problem, it's the psychological trauma of my entire life — my whole life experiences have affected me the most. Fighting with my father, being kicked out and living on the streets, going to jail, being put in a psychiatric ward, being embarrassed all the time, just because of who my parents are." He also told the outlet that he doesn't want to be in the public eye, and he resents having his life under a microscope.

Throughout his life, Ryan O'Neal dealt with leukemia, diabetes, and prostate cancer, all of which he had been fortunate enough to survive. However, in December 2023, the "Peyton Place" actor died at the age of 82 from congestive heart failure. Ryan was buried next to Farrah Fawcett in an intimate ceremony — one so intimate, in fact, that only one of his children was present, and it obviously wasn't Redmond O'Neal, who was still in custody at Patton State Hospital.

According to a source for RadarOnline, the actor had attempted to see his youngest son before he died, but Redmond refused to see him. "Now Ryan doesn't believe he has much time left, and he wants to hug Redmond and tell him how sorry he is," they told the outlet in February 2023. Despite the fact that the two never seemed to make amends before Ryan's death, Redmond was named as the primary beneficiary for the "Bones" star's estimated $30 million estate.

Griffin O'Neal told the New York Post a couple weeks after his dad's death was announced that he and his sister Tatum O'Neal weren't even invited to the ceremony. "I'm the hated son who told the truth. Dark times in this family," he said. "Love means never having to say you're sorry — and Ryan never did, to anyone."

Once Redmond O'Neal was deemed unfit to stand trial, he was diagnosed with a series of mental health disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and antisocial personality disorder. According to documents obtained by RadarOnline in 2019, Redmond didn't want to be treated for any of these disorders, as he "believed his behavior was due to his heroin use over a 15 to 16-year period." He eventually began receiving treatment from a state hospital. 

In October 2024, a source told InTouch Weekly that Redmond hadn't been making very much progress while incarcerated, but that he does have "moments of recognition" that upset him. According to the outlet's unnamed sources, it seems like Redmond may spend the rest of his life in the institution. Unfortunately, another source explained, it seems Redmond still resents Ryan O'Neal and Farrah Fawcett. "He just continually believes his family ruined him," they said. 

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, domestic abuse, or mental health, please contact the relevant resources below:

• Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA's National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).
• Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1−800−799−7233. You can also find more information, resources, and support at their website.
• Reach the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741, call the National Alliance on Mental Illness helpline at 1-800-950-NAMI (6264), or visit the National Institute of Mental Health website.