Sinead O’Connor ‘Safe’ After Alluding to Suicide in Video
Sinead O’Connor is reportedly safe and not suicidal according to a note posted on her behalf to her Facebook page. The note was posted after the singer prompted concern with a video shared August 3rd, in which she discussed her ongoing battle with mental illness.
“Hi everybody, I am posting at Sinead’s request, to let everyone who loves her know she is safe, and she is not suicidal,” read the new anonymous post, shared Monday night. “She is surrounded by love and receiving the best of care. She asked for this to be posted knowing you are concerned for her. I won’t respond to any questions, so please understand. I hope this comforts those of you were concerned.”
On August 3rd, O’Connor filmed a 12-minute video from a motel room in New Jersey where she said she was living alone. The singer alluded to suicidal thoughts at several points: “There’s absolutely nobody in my life except my doctor, my psychiatrist – the sweetest man on earth, who says I’m his hero – and that’s about the only thing keeping me alive at the moment … And that’s kind of pathetic.” Elsewhere, O’Connor said, “My entire life is revolving around not dying, and that’s not living. And I’m not going to die, but still, this is no way for people to be living.”
O’Connor also spoke to others struggling with mental illness and said she hoped her video might provide some help. “I’m fighting, fighting, fighting, fighting, and fighting – like all the millions and millions that I know I’m one of – to stay alive everyday, which I’m doing because I love the people that are doing this to me. I’m not staying alive for me. If it were me, I’d be gone.”
As reports of the video spread, O’Connor continued to use her Facebook page to disclose information, including the address of her motel and her attempts to pass a kidney stone. In the comments of several posts, O’Connor spoke with friends who tried to provide help.
O’Connor has grappled publicly with issues stemming from her mental illness in the past. Last May, the singer was reported “missing and suicidal” after posting a Facebook note that alluded to a legal situation involving her sons. A month later, the Chicago police were contacted by Irish authorities who were allegedly passing along concerns from O’Connor’s family that the singer was threatening to jump off a bridge. She later called the reports “bullshit.” In 2015 as well, O’Connor threatened to commit suicide in a Facebook post, accusing her family of committing “a horrific set of betrayals” and claiming, “I have taken an overdose.”