Sinéad O’Connor was one of Ireland’s most famous exports — but her short and tragic life was marred by misery.
The controversial Grammy winner, who died Wednesday at age 56, hit headlines for her four failed marriages, her battle with bipolar disorder, and the tragic 2022 death of her teenage son Shane.
But the “Nothing Compares 2 U” singer’s troubles began long before she shot to fame in the late 1980s, as she endured a childhood filled with abuse at the hands of her mother.
“She ran a torture chamber,” O’Connor once tearfully told Dr. Phil of her late mom, Johanna O’Grady.
“My earliest memory, she’s telling me I shouldn’t have been born. She didn’t want me … She was a person who took delight, would smile in hurting you.”
The songstress alleged that her mother’s physical and emotional abuse continued until she ran away from home at the age of 13.
However, O’Connor’s problems were just beginning.
Two years later, the troubled teen was convicted of shoplifting and was subsequently forced to spend 18 months in an asylum for “fallen women.”
“I have never — and probably will never — experience such panic and terror and agony over anything,” O’Connor recalled of the harrowing experience in an interview with Spin magazine.
In 1985, when O’Connor was 18, her life took another tragic turn when her abusive mom died after losing control of her car on an icy road and crashing into a bus.
The death left the singer struggling with conflicted feelings about her problematic parent.
“I hate not being able to love her,” O’Connor revealed in 2017, saying she had finally forgiven her mother for her abuse.
“I hate that I can’t put my arms around her and tell her I love her and tell her she’s all right and mother her. I would have taken care of her because she’s an absolute monster.”
“I miss her horribly and I really ache for her,” she continued.
“I think that’s part of where my suicidal instinct comes from — is that I want my mother. I cannot wait for the day when I actually get to heaven so that I can see my mother again.”
O’Connor’s love life was equally marred by heartbreak and upheaval.
She had four children and four marriages.
Her first union, with music producer John Reynolds, resulted in the birth of her son Jake in 1987.
She subsequently aborted her second child with Reynolds after their separation in 1989.
Not long afterward, O’Connor embarked on a relationship with Irish journalist John Waters, with whom she welcomed daughter Roisin in 1996.
However, the pair soon split and fought a bitter, highly-publicized court battle for custody of their little girl.
O’Connor eventually agreed to let Roisin live with Waters.
In the mid-2000s, O’Connor welcomed two more children.
In 2004, she gave birth to a son, Shane, fathered by folk singer Donal Lunny.
In 2006, she gave birth to son Yeshua, fathered by Frank Bonadio.
O’Connor also had three other failed marriages, each of which lasted less than a year.
Her fourth marriage, to therapist Barry Herridge, ended after just a week.
Meanwhile, O’Connor had long struggled with mental illness and revealed in 2007 that she was battling bipolar disorder.
In 2017, she left fans fearful after she posted a tearful recording to Twitter saying she had felt alone since losing custody of her son Shane four years earlier.
“I’m all by myself, there’s absolutely nobody in my life,” O’Connor declared in the video, recorded at a Travelodge in New Jersey where she was then purportedly living.
Last January, the most heartbreaking event of O’Connor’s life occurred when Shane took his own life at the age of 17.
“Like, how has a seventeen-year-old traumatised young person WHO WAS ON SUICIDE WATCH in Tallaght Hospital’s Lynn Ward been able to go missing???” O’Connor posted online after her son’s disappearance.
She later confirmed Shane’s death saying he had “decided to end his earthly struggle today and is now with God.”
O’Connor — who had lost custody of Shane in 2013 — was devastated by his death.
“I’ve decided to follow my son. There is no point living without him,” she later wrote on Twitter.
Her final tweet, posted earlier this month, was a tribute to Shane.
“Been living as undead night creature since [his death],” the songstress wrote.
“He was the love of my life, the lamp of my soul.”
O’Connor’s own cause of death has not yet been announced.
She is survived by her three other children and a 7-year-old grandson.
Her loved ones confirmed her passing by saying, “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”
