Oscar-winner Tatum O’Neal was released from jail yesterday following her arrest for allegedly buying drugs from a homeless ex-con on the Lower East Side.
Sporting a stylish, but wrinkled, dark-gray suit and tousled hair, the former child star, 44, was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance and arraigned in Manhattan Criminal Court.
PEYSER: Tatum To Cops: Thanks!
PHOTO GALLERY: Tatum O’Neal Leaves Court
The troubled actress – whose career appeared to be on the rise again after years of drug and alcohol addiction – said nothing as she left the courthouse with her architect beau, Ron Castellano.
O’Neal’s brush with the law began on Sunday night at 7:30 p.m.
She left her apartment on East Broadway in the tony Forward Building – which was revamped by her boyfriend – in search of drugs, according to court papers.
She then met up with Alan Garcia, 33, in front of nearby 181 Clinton St.
An undercover cop spotted the star and the ex-con chatting before Garcia headed solo into a bodega, according to court papers.
“[Garcia] then exited the bodega and walked with Tatum O’Neal again,” according to Garcia’s criminal complaint.
They briefly strolled along the gentrified neighborhood before Garcia darted off.
When Garcia returned, “Tatum O’Neal handed the defendant money in exchange for a yellow object,” the court papers allege.
That’s when the cops swooped in and busted the actress and Garcia, who was convicted in 2003 of criminal possession of crack.
Garcia was arraigned yesterday on charges of criminal sale of a controlled substance.
“My client adamantly denies the charges,” his court-appointed lawyer, Laura Stasior, told the judge.
He was held in lieu of $10,000 bail.
When cops cuffed O’Neal, they found two yellow plastic bags of cocaine in her front pants pockets, according to the complaint. Police sources said she had also purchased crack.
The bust is the latest trouble for O’Neal, who as a 10-year-old rocketed to fame on the silver screen in 1973’s “Paper Moon,” opposite her dad, Ryan O’Neal.
For that role, she won a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, becoming the youngest person ever to win an Oscar.
But her charmed life was an illusion.
She chronicled her troubles with addiction, her parents and her ex-husband, John McEnroe, in her 2004 memoir, “A Paper Life.”
In it, she claims her father was emotionally abusive and hit her when angry.
Her battles with her tennis-great ex are legendary.
She said McEnroe yanked her arm when she was pregnant, and she once called him “a sociopath” in an interview.
McEnroe has slung his share of mud her way.
He said in his memoir, “You Cannot Be Serious,” that the first time they had sex was a dismal failure because they were both on drugs.
But in recent years, she seemed to be bouncing back from her troubles.
She guest-starred on “Sex and the City” and has a recurring role on Denis Leary’s firefighter show, “Rescue Me,” as the star’s alcoholic sister, Maggie.
And she has even repaired her relationship with McEnroe – who remarried rocker Patty Smyth – for the sake of their three kids.
Additional reporting by MauraO’Connor and Jamie Schram