‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ singer Sinéad O’Connor died at the age of 56. Her cause of death has not been revealed.
Her family said in a statement: “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.”
She was outspoken about her decades-long struggle with mental illness as well as the fact that she was abused by her mother during her childhood, which left a deep impact on her psyche.
She also once revealed that she had attempted suicide 8 times in a year.
Sinéad O’Connor’s suicide attempts
Back in August of 2017, O’Connor posted a tearful Facebook video from a motel room in New Jersey in which she talked about being suicidal. The very next month, she went on Dr. Phil where she spoke about her mental health struggles. Shortly after, Dr. Phil told Entertainment Tonight that he was willing to help the Irish singer out after she confessed to him that she had attempted to kill herself multiple times.
“I’ve been a huge fan of Sinead O’Connor because she’s one of the most pure voices in music and here I see this this iconic talent alone in the middle of the night, in a motel room in New Jersey,” Dr. Phil recalled. “I mean, it’s like hitting bottom and crying for help.”
“She says she attempted suicide eight times in one year, and that’s a dangerous numbers game,” he added. “So I was very concerned for her wellbeing.”
Seeing O’Connor’s emotional video, Dr. Phil said it was a plea for help and he quickly got his team together to assist her. “We were able to, in 24 hours, get her out of a motel room alone in the middle of the night crying to a hundred-acre treatment facility in the rolling hills of Tennessee,” Dr. Phil shared. “I think this could’ve gone real bad, real soon. So I was glad to see her accept the help and embrace it so passionately.”
According to Dr. Phil, O’Connor herself wanted to go public with her struggle with suicidal thoughts in a televised interview.
“I said, ‘I will help you. I’m happy to do this quietly and privately, or we can do it publicly,’ and she said, ‘Oh, no, no. I watch your show and you talk about your guests being teaching tools. I’m willing to be a teaching tool. I want to destigmatize mental illness,'” Dr. Phil recounted. “She said, ‘Look at all the musicians just recently that have taken their own lives [or have had] drug overdoses. We need to talk about this. I don’t want to live in the shadows anymore, I want to be a teaching tool.'”
O’Connor was very open with her emotions on social media. She also opened up about her son Shane’s 2022 suicide in a post on July 17. O’Connor wrote, “Been living as undead night creature since. . He was the love of my life, the lamp of my soul. We were one soul in two halves. He was the only person who ever loved me unconditionally. I am lost in the bardo without him.”
