The Tatum O'Neal-John McEnroe celebrity boxing match continues after O'Neal decided to launch her own attack against the former tennis star and commentator.

McEnroe's book, "You Cannot Be Serious," sits atop the New York Times bestseller list, but ex-wife O'Neal has been the one making her own headlines lately in an attempt to gain back partial custody of her children and get work in Hollywood.

O'Neal, who has revealed her battle with drugs, chose to go public with a counter-attack on McEnroe's tell-all. She has publicly spoken out about McEnroe's alleged steroid use and went high-profile last week with a nationally televised interview with Barbara Walters.

But it is difficult to decipher between the lines of bitterness and an admitted heroin addict who is trying to pull herself together.

The former child actress' cause, however, is very real. She is determined to see her three children, whom she says, miss her terribly.

After six years of marriage and a well-publicized split in 1992, a vicious court battle in 1997 decided that O'Neal and McEnroe would receive joint custody of their three children with O'Neal having primary care. But O'Neal started spiraling downward and began an addiction to heroin after McEnroe married rock singer Patty Smyth that same year, and O'Neal's mother, Joanna Moore, died of cancer literally in her arms.

McEnroe never offered any support, O'Neal says, during these harrowing times.

"The kids couldn't visit me, write to me or talk to me," O'Neal said. "I never got a visit," she says. Her father didn't visit her while she was in rehabilitation, she says.

"I got no support," she said.

Her visits with her children were restricted after court proceedings. To see them, she had to pass a urine drug test two times a week.

After being "clean" of drugs for a few months, the 38-year-old O'Neal says she desperately wants her life and her children back.

"It's a disease like cancer," O'Neal says of her drug addiction. "I'm a person with a problem."

O'Neal believes that McEnroe, while acknowledging that he is devoted to his children by preparing breakfast and driving them to school in the morning, has a violent temper. She claims that his temper has harmed her children including an incident where he forced her son, Kevin, then 14, to lower his pants for a beating on his buttocks after he found and smoked some of McEnroe's hidden marijuana.

"I want those children in my life. I've never known unconditional love and I get it from them," O'Neal said.

So where does the McEnroe-O'Neal bully match stand currently?

O'Neal is trying to get some work in Hollywood. She received good reviews for an movie called "The Scoundrel's Daughter." She wants to prove herself a good person and a good mother.

"Who is going to fight him if I don't?" Who is going to challenge "the crap in this book if I don't?" O'Neal said.

Meanwhile, McEnroe is trying to concentrate on his duties as a tennis commentator for the British Broadcasting Corp. during Wimbledon. McEnroe joined the BBC Wimbledon team in 2000 and was an instant hit as an announcer. He is offering commentary during the current matches.

"I'd like to apologize to all the players playing Wimbledon because I hope this will not be a distraction to them," McEnroe told journalists during a phone interview last week.

McEnroe lives in Manhattan with Smyth with whom he has two daughters. O'Neal lives in Manhattan alone in an apartment overlooking Central Park surrounded by pictures of her children and her father and the Oscar she won in 1973. She remains the youngest star to win the Academy Award at the age of 10 for her role in "Paper Moon."

It was a sad commentary on the state of O'Neal's affair when she looked pleadingly into the camera at the end of her Walters' interview and spoke to her children to tell them that she missed them. It appeared to be the only means she had to communicate with them.

And just like other child stars who have grown up to be tormented adults, it was difficult not to point fingers for Tatum O'Neal's never ending problems.

'Sex' Star On The Town

When I met up with John Corbett a few months ago during his promotional tour for "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," I couldn't believe that Corbett and the sensitive Aidan Shaw from "Sex and the City" were one and the same.

The guy who was at the center of a promotional party to promote the film walked in looking more like Bono of U2 than Carrie's quiet hunk.

But there was Corbett, wearing wrap around sunglasses and a leather jacket, and ready to party.

And now the real Mr. Corbett has stood up, spotted with Bo Derek at the Indy 500 in May and just recently by People magazine who caught Bo and John cozy on a Harley-Davidson after seeing the John Wayne classic "Rio Bravo" in Los Angeles.

A rep for Derek told People that the two are just pals.

Meanwhile, Sarah Jessica Parker's pregnancy will be covered up for season five of "Sex and the City," which kicks off July 21 on HBO.

Parker and husband, Matthew Broderick, are expecting their first baby in the fall.

Bond Save The Queen

Variety reports that the new James Bond movie, "Die Another Day," will have its premiere at this year's Royal Film Performance gala in London on Nov. 18.

The Royal Film Performance, a fundraiser for the Cinema and Television Benevolent Fund, will be attended by either Queen Elizabeth or Prince Charles.

"Ali" had its Royal Film Performance last year.

"Die Another Day" is expected to be released on Nov. 22 and stars Pierce Brosnan and Halle Berry.

Celebrity Q&A

Q.: I was wondering what ever happened to Theresa Russell? After seeing her with Debra Winger in "Black Widow" in the '80s, she seems to have disappeared. She was excellent in that movie, by the way.

-- Terri R., Sloughhouse, Calif.

A. Russell, who was first seen on screen in "The Last Tycoon" in 1977, is still making movies. Russell's most recent film was "The Believer," which won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance 2001, but was only recently released because of its controversial nature. Russell plays a yuppie fascist in the movie about an angry young Jew who hates his own heritage so much he becomes a neo-Nazi.

She also showed up recently in a made-for-cable TV movie called "Project Viper," an "Aliens"-type thriller about a scientist tracking a creature.

Theresa Paup was born in 1957 in San Diego, Calif. According to the Web site IMDb.com, liner notes to Pete Townshend's album "Scoop 3," said that Russell was the inspiration for the Who song "Athena," originally titled "Teresa."

Michelle Solomon's gossip column, Celebrity Chatter, appears each Monday. Got a question about a celebrity? E-mail us (please include your first name, city and state) and we'll find you the answer. Michelle Solomon@Celebrity Chatter.