There is something hauntingly familiar about the young woman who strides into LA’s iconic Polo Lounge. The heart-shaped faced and broad smile are undeniably those of her mother, Oscar-winning Hollywood actress Tatum O’Neal.
But Emily McEnroe’s dark looks and brooding brow could only have come from her fiery tennis star father, John McEnroe.
Her easy charm, however, is something which is clearly a shared family trait.
It’s true that Emily has had little choice but to live her life in her parents’ enormous shadows. Both were instantly recognisable in their own right. But their tempestuous marriage – and Tatum’s subsequent well-publicised battle with heroin and crack cocaine addiction – threw their lives into even sharper public focus.
Emily McEnroe, 27, plans to become an actress and make her own mark on the world
Indeed, Emily – at 27 the couple’s youngest child – jokes wryly: ‘I was usually the kid standing a few feet behind Mum and Dad holding an umbrella.’
Being the offspring of famous parents, whose childhood dramas were played out in the pages of tabloid magazines, has taken its toll and Emily admits she has been in therapy ‘since childhood’.
But today Emily is anything but self-pitying and is determined to emerge on her own terms, with plans to become an actress. This interview and professional photoshoot with The Mail on Sunday is the first she has ever done.
She is finally ready, she says, to talk honestly about what it was like to ‘grow up McEnroe’ with all the privileges – and pitfalls – that entailed.
‘I had the best education, we lived in the Upper West side of Manhattan and wanted for nothing materially,’ she says. ‘But all the money in the world doesn’t matter if you are sitting in a mansion being unhappy.’ Emily was just three when her parents’ famously combative marriage imploded.
Her father, the enfant terrible of the tennis circuit and three-times Wimbledon winner, married Tatum O’Neal (daughter of Love Story star Ryan O’Neal), in 1986.
Tatum was Hollywood royalty. She remains the youngest-ever winner of an Oscar, aged ten, for Paper Moon; dated Michael Jackson and has been brutally honest about her struggle with addiction.
Emily McEnroe’s mother, Tatum O’Neal, is pictured here with her three-time Wimbledon winner father, John McEnroe
It was, Emily recalls, a ‘big loud family’. She has two older brothers who she remains exceptionally close to: Kevin, 32, a novelist, and Sean, 30, who works as an ‘energy healer’ and is ‘the most spiritual and perceptive person I know’.
McENROE later married American singer Patty Smyth and had two daughters Anna, 22, and Ava, 18. Another step-sibling Ruby, 33, was inherited from Patty’s first marriage. ‘I’m very lucky to have had three parents and tons of brothers and sisters,’ Emily says. ‘But you had to be loud to be noticed. I’ve always had a good sense of self but sometimes it’s hard to find your own identity when you’ve got powerhouse parents. We’ve had our fights like all families but we’re there for each other.’
It cannot have been easy. Her father gained custody after the divorce, so Emily lived with him and Patty during the week, and saw her mother only at weekends.
Emily said that after her parents divorced, her father helped pick up the pieces. There were periods of time when she didn’t see her mother, as Tatum was being treated for drug addiction
Early on, there were ‘long absences’ as Tatum sought treatment for drug addiction; something she would later blame on depression triggered by her failed marriage to McEnroe and an unhappy childhood.
Today, the pair are very close. But it’s clear it was her father who picked up the pieces. Emily says: ‘Dad was a rock. He would get up at 7am, slice up grapefruit, make us breakfast and then always drove me to school.
‘That’s one thing I will forever be grateful to him for. He did that week in, week out, no matter how busy his life was.
‘He’s always been protective and there for me. When guys would come to the house he would pull them to one side and say [she puts on a deep menacing voice] “Make sure you look after Emily and bring her home safe. And, oh, you can call me John…” Most of the guys were terrified of him. I’ve only had two proper boyfriends in my life and they only lasted six months.’
Emily said her father was a character on the tennis court. ‘He’s got a great sense of humour. He’s the worst dad dancer ever – only the top half moves. He secretly loves karaoke, and his favourite song is Just What I Needed by The Cars’
On the day Emily’s mother was arrested for buying crack cocaine in 2008, she had to go to school. ‘My phone was blowing up with people asking me about it. People read about a scandal but they forget it’s about real people with real feelings
As a father as on the tennis courts, McEnroe was a character. ‘He’s got a great sense of humour. He’s the worst dad dancer ever – only the top half moves. He secretly loves karaoke, and his favourite song is Just What I Needed by The Cars.’ Naturally athletic, Emily says she enjoyed playing tennis at school but gave it up after being teased by classmates for ‘not instantly being brilliant at it’.
‘Kids were so mean. There was an assumption that I should be amazing at tennis. I loved it but quit because I was never going to be that good.
‘A couple of years ago, Dad told me of all his kids I was the most naturally gifted at tennis. I said “Dad, why the hell are you telling me that now? I would have applied myself much more if you’d told me that back then.” ’
Emily also loved acting but again resisted because she feared comparison. ‘Mum won an Oscar at ten,’ she shrugs. ‘People unfairly expect you’re going to have some special gift.’
Her parents’ fame meant Emily had tough lessons to learn when she found herself navigating the world as an adult. ‘I grew up around fame and for years I thought everyone was so nice because wherever we went people were fawning over Mum and Dad. It was only when I went out into the world on my own that I realised you don’t get treated so nicely in real life.’
In person, Emily is a charming mix of both parents. Her voice is deep and husky, something which has gained her work as an actress in the voice-over market, cartoons and advertising campaigns, reported Caroline Graham
The darker side became all-too apparent after Tatum was arrested in 2008 for buying crack cocaine and the story went global. ‘I had to go to school that day,’ Emily recalls. ‘My phone was blowing up with people asking me about it. People read about a scandal but they forget it’s about real people with real feelings.
‘School was a safe place for me because that’s where my friends were but I felt I couldn’t deal with it properly because everywhere I went it was shoved in my face.’
It reached its zenith when, leaving the dentist one day shortly afterwards after having a filling, she was photographed by paparazzi. ‘I was scowling and the headline was, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” I can laugh about it now, but then it felt unfair.’
In person, Emily is a charming mix of both parents. Her voice is deep and husky, something which has gained her work as an actress in the voice-over market, cartoons and advertising campaigns.
Mid-interview, Tatum arrives at the restaurant unexpectedly. They greet each other warmly with giant hugs. Bubbly and fun, Tatum is bursting with pride that Emily is finally confident enough to ‘break out on her own’.
She says: ‘I grew up in a family of men and I always dreamed of having a little girl. I love my sons to death but having a daughter and the bond we share is one of the great joys of my life.’
Halfway through the interview in an LA iconic polo lounge, Tatum arrives. She is bursting with pride that Emily is finally confident enough to break out on her own
At 55, Tatum could easily pass for a woman a decade younger . She is slim, her hair newly highlighted and, most importantly, she is now clean and sober. Tatum and John now enjoy a ‘civil’ relationship.
‘When I moved to LA, Mum moved here to be near me,’ explains Emily. ‘Mum’s had her issues but she’s happier and healthier than she’s ever been. We talk all the time. Even when Mum had problems, she was always there for me. I can tell her anything.
‘My favourite thing with Mum is to cook at home and sit there and talk and talk. Sometimes she feels more like my big sister than my mum.’
That Emily is planning an acting career is clearly something that concerns Tatum. She knows the impact it can have, that Hollywood holds women to a higher standard.
‘I was always open about my problems and going to rehab, but standards are different in the way Hollywood deals with men and women over addiction.
‘Look at someone like Robert Downey Jr. He had a severe drug problem, thankfully sorted himself out and is now one of the biggest stars on the planet.
‘But when you’re a woman, it’s much harder to shake off that reputation, that “Oh, she’s trouble,” or ‘She’s unreliable”.
Emily has been working as a waitress in a diner in between voice-over work. She has had some notable success in acting, however, including being Scarlett Johansson’s voice double in 2017’s Ghost In The Shell
‘Even in this age of #MeToo there’s still inequality with how people are treated, particularly when they’ve had very public issues with substance abuse.’
Emily nods. ‘Growing up with addiction, you have to talk about it,’ she insists. ‘My mum was open about her problems. At times I felt parental and protective of her but it’s something that has brought us closer together.’
In fact, the pair are now working together on a podcast called Tatum Verbatim, which will discuss addiction and the #MeToo movement.
They are also writing a TV comedy about a mother and daughter navigating the pitfalls of Hollywood, with the provisional title Tate’n’Em. Netflix has shown interest.
It demonstrates a huge leap of faith – and confidence – for Emily, who has been working as a waitress in a humble diner in between voice-over work. She has had some notable successes, including being Scarlett Johansson’s voice double in 2017’s Ghost In The Shell.
‘All I want to do is work. People think it’s weird that I’m working as a waitress in a diner but I’ve always earned my own money.
‘I feel vulnerable putting myself out there now and saying I want to act. People will attack me just because of who Mum and Dad are.’
She has been taking intensive acting classes and dreams about landing a role.
‘I’ve been in the shadows but now I want to do something myself. One thing Dad always drummed into me was discipline.’
As Emily prepares to leave – to return solo to the flat she shares with her beloved kitten Frankie – she turns: ‘My mum and dad are very different people but, like any parents, they did the best they could for their kids.
‘There have been times when it’s been horrible to wake up and see the family name all over the tabloids, but ultimately that brings you together as a family.
‘I love my mum and dad. They might be these famous people to everyone else but they’re just Mum and Dad to me and I wouldn’t change a thing. I hope I can do something to make them proud of me.’