O'Neals Try To Mend Relationship On TV

WASHINGTON (AP) - In a time when celebrities bare their souls in public every day, love means never having to say you're sorry, unless it's said on a reality show.

Ryan O'Neal and his daughter Tatum are filming such a show for Oprah Winfrey's OWN network with the hope of further mending a relationship that was in tatters for years.

In a recent interview with the Associated Press, O'Neal said the series "was Tatum's idea. She sold it to me." He said, "Frankly, I didn't think that anybody would be interested and so, I just agreed, hoping that it would go away."

It didn't. They've filmed about a half-dozen episodes so far. "She's wonderful to have back in my life," he said.

Their estrangement was at its worst when Tatum wrote about her father's alleged drug abuse and being a bad father in her autobiography "Paper Life" in 2004. The healing began at the funeral of O'Neal's longtime companion, Farrah Fawcett, in 2009.

Ryan O'Neal spoke with the AP last week after donating Fawcett's iconic red bathing suit from the famous 1970s poster to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

Tatum O'Neal's ex-husband John McEnroe told the syndicated "The Wendy Williams Show" that he hopes their three grown children won't appear on the series. He says "it's an accident waiting to happen."

O'Neal says the show could be an inspiration. He says if he and Tatum can grow closer, perhaps other estranged families who watch can do the same.

No title or premiere date of the series has been announced yet.