Advertisement

Music icon Sinead O’Connor posts distressing plea for help

Music icon Sinead O'Connor has pleaded for help in a distressing Facebook video.

Music icon Sinead O'Connor has pleaded for help in a distressing Facebook video.

Sinead O’Connor is reportedly safe and no longer suicidal, after grave fears for her mental health, according to a new post on her Facebook page.

The latest post follows a distressing video the singer had posted to Facebook in which she outlined her battles with mental illness, prompting serious fears for her welfare.

In the earlier post, O’Connor had emotionally pleaded for help from her family and opened up about her mental illness in a rambling Facebook video posted from a New Jersey motel she has been living in.

The video was the latest public glimpse of the singer’s ongoing struggle with mental health problems.

The 50-year-old Irish singer says in the video posted on Facebook that she was staying alive for the sake of others, like her psychiatrist, and if it were up to her, she’d “be gone”.

“I’m fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting – like all the millions and millions that I know I’m one of – to stay alive every day,” she said in the video.

O’Connor lamented what she described is a lack of support from loved ones, saying that “strangers on Facebook” are kinder to her than her own family.

She asked her adult children and their fathers to make an effort to bring her home to Ireland.

“It should not be acceptable to any man who knows me and claims to love and care about me that I’m still sitting here after two years and I’m begging … to be brought home,” she said through tears.

Watch the distressing video below:

O’Connor said she was living in a New Jersey Travelodge and later posted the address of a Travelodge in South Hackensack.

The video has attracted more than 1.1-million views since it was first posted on Friday (AEST).

South Hackensack Police Captain Robert Kaiser said Tuesday night that officers conducted a welfare check, but O’Connor wasn’t in her room at the time.

He said she was no longer staying there and police don’t know where she was currently living. An email sent to her agent wasn’t immediately returned.

A follow-up Facebook post on O’Connor’s page late on Monday, said to be made on the singer’s behalf, said the singer was safe and not suicidal.

Sinead O'Connor

Sinead O’Connor was seldom out of the news for much of the 1990s. Photo: Rolling Stone

“She is surrounded by love and receiving the best of care,” the post read.

O’Connor has been open about her mental health problems. She was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 2003, but she later said she had been misdiagnosed and actually suffered from depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

The singer was found in a Chicago-area hotel room last year after a call from a concerned doctor prompted a search by authorities.

The singer topped charts across the globe in 1990 with her cover of Prince’s ballad Nothing Compares 2 U.

She was sharply criticised two years later after ripping up a picture of Pope John Paul II during a performance on Saturday Night Live.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Advertisement
Stay informed, daily
A FREE subscription to The New Daily arrives every morning and evening.
The New Daily is a trusted source of national news and information and is provided free for all Australians. Read our editorial charter.
Copyright © 2024 The New Daily.
All rights reserved.