O'Brien explained the mix up happened after his wife became ill over Christmas, and was admitted into the hospital.
"I was freaking out. It was just terrible, terrible."
"I go into the hospital, see her and she opened her eyes. I was like, 'My God I got to see her eyes one more time, she opened her eyes.'"
"She couldn't speak. But I could see her eyes seeing me there and it was amazing.
"Afterwards they told me it may have been a spasm or a reflex."
O'Brien said he "didn't know" who to blame for the mistake.
"If I point the finger, there'll be three pointing back," he said.
"I don't know who to blame. I blame this pandemic for a lot of it."
Mike Pingel, her longtime rep and friend, also told The Hollywood Reporter: "I'm devastated. She was brilliant and beautiful and I feel like a light has been taken away."
"To say she was an angel would be at the top of the list. She was the sweetest person you'd ever meet and had a huge heart. She loved her fans, and I don't think she realised how much she meant to them."
As well as playing a Bond girl, Tanya also appeared on the iconic TV series 'Charlie's Angels' as Julie Rogers, a role she held for a year.
She then went on to land the part of Midge Pinciotti on 'That '70s Show' between between 1998 and 2001, and in 2004.
Tanya - who was born Victoria Leigh Blum - was a model before she turned to acting, having starred in TV ads before she landed her first role in the 1975 horror 'Forced Entry'.
In 1982, Tanya posed for Playboy.
The late star is survived by her husband Lance and her sister Barbara Chase.
