Highlights
- Sinead O’Connor was known for her controversial acts.
- Her marriages were marked by drama and she had a tumultuous relationship with her mental health.
- Despite the chaos, O’Connor was a dedicated mother to her children and tried to maintain a cordial relationship with her ex-partners.
Renowned for her distinctive music style, Sinead O’Connor, who died tragically on the 26th of July 2023, frequently made headlines for unconventional reasons. One incident that garnered significant criticism in her career occurred during her 1992 appearance on Saturday Night Live when she tore a picture of the Pope as a protest against Catholicism.
This controversial act resulted in O’Connor being booed offstage and her albums being crushed by a steamroller. However, this was not the only tumultuous aspect of O’Connor’s life. Her relationships and marriages were marked by considerable drama, which she attributed to her mental health issues.
Sinead O’Connor’s Marriage To John Reynolds Was Quite Chaotic
Sinead O’Connor has been married four times. Her first marriage was to drummer and music producer, John Reynolds. The couple first met in London when she was the lead singer in the band “TonTon Macoute”. In the same year they met, O’Connor became pregnant with her first son, Jake and they got married in 1989.
Reynolds played a significant role in O’Connor’s life, producing quite a number of her music albums, like “The Lion and the Cobra” in 1987, “I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got” in 1990, and “Universal Mother” in 1994.
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However, O’Connors’ marriage to Reynolds came to a sad end in 1991 and they both reportedly maintained a cordial relationship, with Reynolds even producing five more of her Albums. They were both committed to being hands-on in their son’s life, as they co-parented seamlessly.
However, things took a dramatic turn in May 2016 when Sinead O’Connor was reported to be missing. After searching for her, she was found a day later, safe in a hotel in Chicago’s suburbs. Afterward, O’Connor penned a public letter addressed to John Reynolds and their son Jake, accusing them of abandoning her during a difficult time. She wrote:
I will see you all in court. I want damages. I have been unable to work. I have lost last year’s income and this year’s. I have had enormous medical expenses, and enormous trauma because of your torturing of me.
This social media tantrum by Sinead O’Connor, was only one of her many cryptic posts. In 2021, O’Connor referred to John Reynold as her “best friend on earth” and that he was the only father to her four children, which made things quite confusing.
Sinead O’Connor Was Involved In A Bitter Custody Battle With John Waters Before Her Second Marriage
After her episode with John Reynolds, Sinead O’Connor went into a relationship with an Irish journalist, John Waters. Together they had a daughter, Roisin Waters, in 1995. O’Connor’s relationship with Waters was embroiled in a lengthy custody battle for their daughter.
Sinead O’Connor was accused of being mentally incapable of being a mother to her daughter. She said to the Independent:
The only evidence against me in that case was 17 years or so of newspaper stories that made me out to be a crazy person.
This led her to try to end her own life on her 33rd birthday in 1999, following a court decision favoring John Waters that limited O’Connor to seeing her daughter only once a month. After the custody dispute, O’Connor found solace by immersing herself in religious pursuits and eventually became ordained as a priest of the Latin Tridentine Church.
Some Facts About Sinead O’Connor’s Children
- Her first child, Jake Reynolds, was born in 1987 and is a chef
- Her second child and only daughter, Roisin Waters, born in 1995, is a pastry chef
- Her son, Shane Lunny, born in 2004, tragically died in 2022
- Yeshua Bonadio, her third son and fourth child, was born in 2006
Sinead O’Connor then became engaged to her second husband, journalist Nick Sommerlad, only a few months after they started dating. They tied the knot in August 2004, but their relationship, though kept private, ended abruptly after just 11 months.
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The couple attributed the breakup to the pressure of marrying too soon in their relationship. Following the divorce, O’Connor, according to the Irish Independent, declared she would never marry again, but that decision was short-lived as she married two more times.
Sinead O’Connor’s Third And Fourth Marriages Ended Dramatically
After a string of failed public romantic affairs, Sinead O’Connor gave marriage another try with her third husband, Steve Cooney. O’Connor tied the knot with the Australian-Irish musician while on a tour in July 2010. Despite the singer having nothing but good things to say about her 3rd husband, the marriage ended in less than a year. The couple finalized their divorce in April 2011.
According to the Irish Examiner, Sinead O’Connor had taken the blame for her failed marriage to Steve Cooney:
Steve is lovely, so it’s not his fault but mine. It was an extremely happy marriage, I’m heartbroken about it breaking up.
She also strangely attributed the failure of her 8-month marriage to her weight gain. O’Connor in September 2011 shared another cryptic message on her social media, which even resulted in a visit from the police. She later addressed her fans about the dangers of suicide.
Sinead O’Connor’s fourth marriage, also her briefest, took place on her birthday, December 8, 2011. She married Barry Herridge, an Irish psychotherapist. Surprisingly, the couple decided to end their marriage just 16 days later.
Sinead O’Connor Passes Away At Age 56 Amid Mysterious Mental & Physical Health Problems
The singer’s death comes only a year after her 17-year old son took his own life.
Following the end of the marriage, O’Connor blamed the media for poking nose into her affairs. She said, “The behavior of one particular paper resulted in very serious damage to my husband and myself personally, and consequently made the marriage untenable so that it is now over and I hope the media will kindly leave the poor man alone to get on with his life.”
Sinead O’Connor’s perpetual failure in marriage and relationships is linked to her mental health struggles. She revealed to People one time that her PTSD was a result of the abuse she suffered from her mother while growing up. She further announced that she was done with romantic relationships and would rather spend her time with her children, family, and friends. This time around, she honored this decision until her death.
Source: NewsFinale
