She wasn't doing research after all -- but was driven to buy cocaine to help cope with the loss of her dog, actress Tatum O'Neal says.
The former child star originally told police when arrested in New York Sunday that she was "doing research" for a film role, but she's now saying the death three weeks ago of her Scottish terrier, Lena, is what set her off.
The former child star was arrested by police when she was spotted by a narcotics team exchanging money with a man three blocks from her home in New York.
O'Neal chronicled her recovery from a heroin addiction in the book "A Paper Life."
O'Neal told the New York Post that the dog was "the fabric of our family ... My daughter and I had to put her down. It was too horrible for words." O'Neal, who also has an alcohol problem, thanked police for catching her -- and keeping her from straying from sobriety. She was charged with one misdemeanor count of criminal possession of a controlled substance and is due in court on July 28.
