Sinéad O’Connor’s death at age 56 is “not being treated as suspicious.”
On Thursday, a Scotland Yard spokesperson confirmed to PEOPLE that “A 56-year-old woman was pronounced dead” at a property in south London on Wednesday night.
“Police were called at 11:18hrs on Wednesday, 26 July to reports of an unresponsive woman at a residential address in the SE24 area,” the Metropolitan Police added.
“Next of kin have been notified. The death is not being treated as suspicious. A file will be prepared for the Coroner,” the spokesperson added. A cause of death has not yet been disclosed.
Sinead O’Connor performs onstage at the Chicago Theater in Chicago, Illinois, May 19, 1990.Getty Images
Getty Images
“It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad,” her family said in a statement to RTE and the BBC. “Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”
Though the song was nominated for fourGrammy Awardsin 1991, she boycotted that year’s ceremony, writing in an open letter that the Academy “acknowledge[s] mostly the commercial side of art.”
Redferns/Getty Images
The gesture was O’Connor’s response to the Catholic Church’s alleged cover-up of the sexual abuse of children. (In the decades since, the Catholic Church has been involved in countless lawsuits involving child sexual abuse, according to theNew York Times.)
The stunt sparked serious backlash toward O’Connor, though she has since said she has no regrets (“A lot of people say or think that tearing up the pope’s photo derailed my career. That’s not how I feel about it,” she wrote in her 2021 bookRememberings. “I feel that having a number-one record derailed my career and my tearing the photo put me back on the right track”).
Sinead O’Connor singing “Nothing Compares to U”.
In 2021, sheannounced her retirementfrom music and touring, writing that she’d “gotten older” and was “tired.” Days later, though, shereversed course, saying, “I love my job. Making music that is. I don’t like the consequences of being a talented (and outspoken woman) being that I have to wade through walls of prejudice every day to make a living.”
Born in Dublin on Dec. 8, 1966, O’Connor was the third of five children born to John, an engineer and lawyer, and his wife Marie.
The young O’Connor’s childhood was rocky; her parents divorced, and in 2012, she told PEOPLE that her mother psychologically and physically abused her and “spent a good time trying to destroy my reproductive system.”
“It was a torture chamber, really,” she said. “But I forgive my mother; she just wasn’t well.”
She ran away to live with her father at age 13, but two years later, was sent to a Magdalene asylum for “unruly” women for 18 months after she was caughtshoplifting.
Sinead O’Connor posed at her home in County Wicklow, Republic Of Ireland on 3rd February 2012.David Corio/Redferns/Getty
David Corio/Redferns/Getty
O’Connor was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder as well as complex post-traumatic stress disorder and borderline personality disorder. In 2015, she underwent a radical hysterectomy to treat endometriosis, which sent her into a downward spiral.
“You can never predict what might trigger the [PTSD]. I describe myself as a rescue dog: I’m fine until you put me in a situation that even slightly smells like any of the trauma I went through, then I flip my lid,” shetold PEOPLE in 2021. “I manage very well because I’ve been taught brilliant skills. There was a lot of therapy. It’s about focusing on the things that bring you peace as opposed to what makes you feel unstable.”
Facing accusations that she was an unfit mother, she tried to take her own life in 1999, reportedly swallowing 20 Valium pills on her 33rd birthday.
“That was… after a session in court that day where it was suggested that for the rest of my life I would only see my daughter once a month,”she said in 2005. “I made a very serious suicide attempt, and I did almost die.”
As she healed,O’Connor threw herself into motherhoodand religion, becoming an ordained priest of the Latin Tridentine Church (She later announced in 2018 that she’dconverted to Islam).
Though she announced a retirement in 2003, explaining that she no longer wanted to be famous and wanted to live “a ‘normal’ life,” she continued to release music.
Still, her mental health struggles continued to surface,culminating in a hospitalizationin 2022 after the death of her 17-year-old son, Shane.
In recent weeks, O’Connor appeared to be looking forward to the future, and wrote on Facebook that she was working on new music and had hopes for an international tour.
“Hi All, recently moved back to London after 23 years absence. Very happy to be home : ) Soon finishing my album. Release early next year : )” she wrote on July 11. “Hopefully Touring Australia and New Zealand toward end 2024. Europe, USA and other territories beginning early 2025 : )#TheBitchIsBack”
source: people.com
