Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor’s “Nothing Compares 2 U” was a mega-hit in 1990, selling a million copies and spending four weeks atop the Billboard Hot 100 charts. It is the 82nd bestselling single of the ‘90s.
Written by Prince, the song features O’Connor’s fragile singing voice over melancholy piano and delicate strings. The song arrived with an iconic music video with its extreme closeup of the Irish singer’s visage and, toward the end of the song, two tears streaming down her face. These were real tears, according to Rolling Stone. “I didn’t intend for that moment to happen, but when it did, I thought, ‘I should let this happen,’” she told the magazine. The tears were brought on by thoughts of her mother, who was killed in a car accident in 1985.
The Grammy-winning singer revealed she had bipolar disorder on The Oprah Winfrey Show in October of 2007. And that she had attempted suicide on her 33rd birthday, in 1999.
“I don’t think I was born with bipolar disorder,” she told Oprah. “I believe it was created as a result of the violence I experienced.”
However, it was later revealed that her bipolar diagnosis was incorrect. What she had really been experiencing was depression influenced by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), stemming from her tumultuous childhood, which she described to People magazine in 2012. She received her PTSD diagnosis in 2012.
“It was physical violence, perpetrated particularly in a sexual manner,” she told People. “She wasn’t trying to have sex with me, but she spent a good time trying to destroy my reproductive system. It was psychological, too. It was a torture chamber, really. But I forgive my mother; she just wasn’t well.”
Sinéad O’Connor is in the news this week because she tried to kill herself again.
O’Connor allegedly posted a troubling note on Facebook on Sunday. It reads in part: “The last two nights finished me off. I have taken an overdose. There is no other way to get respect. I am not at home, I’m at a hotel, somewhere in Ireland [sic], under another name .” Read the full Facebook post at the end of this story.
According to Irish news site BreakingNews.ie, O’Connor is “safe and sound” and receiving medical care.
In the days leading up to her suicide attempt, O’Connor has been duking it out with her family. The Facebook post outlines her battle with Donal Lunny over their son, Shane, whom O’Connor says she has not been allowed to see despite the fact that he is “unwell.”
A Facebook post Saturday revealed that the singer was quitting music. “Music is over for me. Music did this,” it reads. “Rendered me invisible even unto my children. Murdered my soul. I’m never going back to music.”
The singer’s website is currently down, displaying an error message.
O’Connor took to Facebook again on Saturday, presumably writing from a hospital bed the following message to her family.
“You came to the hospital to see me on life support. You left before I woke and you haven’t been back. Please why are you doing these things to me?? I need you. I need your love. I can’t manage what’s being done to me. I didnt do anything to deserve the way [I’m] being treated.”
Out came the vitriol on Monday as the singer lambasted her family:
“Jake, Roisin, Jr., Frank, Donal, Eimear, I never wanna see you again. You stole my sons from me. Then you had hypocrisy to come to hospital and then not be here when I wake and not pick up phone? I’m s–t to you. You’re dead to me. You killed your mother. You stole my sons… You are child stealing murderers, I never want to see or hear from any of you again. Why were you here when you’re the ones who put me here???? And where the f–k are you now??? Murderers. Liars. Hypocrites. All of you. You caused this.”
By Tuesday, she had changed her tone.
“Come and tell Me I’m loved. Come [to me] and tell me I’m wanted and cherished. Why did you leave before I woke?” she wrote on Tuesday.
Sinéad O’Connor is a devout believer in God but has been at war with the Catholic Church for years. In October of 1992 on Saturday Night Live, she sang an a cappella rendition of Bob Marley’s “War,” only to tear in half a photo of Pope John Paul II at the end of her performance while singing the word “evil.” She said it was in protest to the sexual abuse scandal in the Catholic Church. The audience remained completely quiet, with no applause or booing at the end of the song.
O’Connor has released a total of 10 albums throughout the course of her career.
Multifarious in her musical direction, O’Connor released the reggae album Throw Down Your Arms in 2005, which arrived with critical acclaim. She also put out Sean-Nós Nua, an album of traditional Irish songs in a “sexed-up” version of the Irish language.
She’s also amassed an impressive list of collaborators, including U2, Peter Gabriel, Mary J. Blige, Wyclef Jean, Massive Attack, Moby, and Roger Waters of Pink Floyd.
O’Connor is writing a memoir as we speak, due out March 2016. And whether she’s bipolar or has PTSD, we love her all the same.
Nota bene: Here is the entire initial suicidal post from Facebook. The post was taken down from her Facebook page…
“There is only so much any woman can be expected to bear. What was done to me this week was appalling cruelty. By my husband, my family, by St Pats and by An Gardai Siochana, by my son, Jake and by Donal Lunny and Angela singleton, by my son’s girlfriend, his friends… after everything I’ve been put through and been forced to go through alone .. And punished for having to go through since I had the surgery on August 26th. Or since Shane became unwell in March, This week has broken me. The withholding of my babies from me without any sound reason by their fathers, Frank and Donal, and by Jake and the rest of my family, is a horrific set of betrayals. And has been going on since I had my surgery. The last two nights finished me off. I have taken an overdose. There is no other way to get respect. I am not at home, I’m at a hotel, somewhere in ireland, under another name. If I wasn’t posting this, my kids and family wouldn’t even find out. Was dead for another fortnight since none of them bother their hole with me for a minute. I could have been dead here for weeks already and they’d never have known. Because apparently I’m scum and deserve to be abandoned and treated like shit just when I’ve had my womb and ovaries chopped out and my child is frighteningly sick. I’m such a rotten horrible mother and Person, that I’ve been alone. Howling crying for weeks. And been told by them all [to] go fuck myself. I’m invisible. I don’t matter a shred to anyone. No one has come near me. I’ve died a million times already with the pain of it. So yeah.. Strangers like me.. But my family don’t value me at all. They wouldn’t know if I was dead until weeks from now if I wasn’t fucking informing them now. well done guys, you’ve finally got rid of me. Sorry the penny didn’t drop sooner. I’m an idiot. When you planned to get me away from my babies did you plan for me losing my mind over it? It being the final straw? For how you’re gonna explain why I died? Make sure you tell the truth. BARRY.. THEY WONT. YOURE THE ONLY ONE WHO KNOWS ME OR THE TRUTH. PLEASE STAND FOR ME AND TELL IT. i can’t play twister. My children don’t care if I live [or] die anyway. Neither do their dads. Everyone is better off. Never ever do this to a woman again. Let this be your lesson. I survived it when John waters did it.. I can’t survive Jake doing it.”
