Tatum O'Neal To Check Into Rehab

The former child star, who chronicled her recovery from a heroin addiction in her 2004 book A Paper Life, was arrested by police on Sunday night, after she was spotted by a narcotics team exchanging money with a man three blocks from her home in the Big Apple.

According to the New York Daily News, the actress "laughed and chatted" her way through her arraignment at Manhattan Criminal Court on Monday, just hours after she tried to plead her way out of her arrest.

O'Neal's lawyer refused Criminal Court Judge Felicia A. Mennin's offer for the 44-year-old actress to sit through two days of drug counselling in favour of finding a rehab programme suitable for the star.

A law enforcement source says: "She's going to go to her own, high-priced, out-of-the-spotlight rehab to get clean - again."

The daughter of screen star Ryan O'Neal, who at age 10 was the youngest person ever to win an Oscar, entered no plea and was released on her own recognisance.

She is next due in court on 28 July.