DUBLIN • Troubled Irish singer Sinead O'Connor was found safe after she appeared to attempt suicide on Sunday and a post on her Facebook page said she had taken an overdose. The post, whose authenticity could not immediately be verified, expressed hurt that O'Connor, 48, was cut off from her family.
"This week has broken me. The withholding of my babies from me without any sound reason by their fathers, Frank and Donal, and by Jake and the rest of my family, is a horrific set of betrayals," the post read.
"I have taken an overdose. There is no other way to get respect. I am not at home, I'm at a hotel, somewhere in Ireland, under another name. If I wasn't posting this, my kids and family wouldn't even find out. I could have been dead here for weeks already and they'd never have known."
A public relations company linked to O'Connor was not immediately available for comment. A spokesman for the Irish police refused to comment, but a police source said the singer had been "located safe". Media reports said she was receiving medical treatment.
She has four children (Jake Reynolds, 28; Roisin Waters, 19; Shane Lunny, 11; and Yeshua Bonadio, eight) with different fathers (record producer John Reynolds, writer John Waters, instrumentalist Donal Lunny and surgeon Frank Bonadio).
She was married to Reynolds, journalist Nick Sommerlad and musician Steve Cooney. She is in her fourth marriage to therapist Barry Herridge.
Earlier this year, she cancelled a number of concerts because she said one of her sons was suffering from a "life-threatening medical condition". She had a hysterectomy in August, which she detailed on social media.
In a post on Facebook on Saturday, she said she was finished with the music industry. "Music is over for me. Music did this. Rendered me invisible even unto my children. Murdered my soul."
The singer, known for her strong views on issues including women's rights and abuses of the Roman Catholic Church, has spoken publicly about her battle with depression through the years. She won critical acclaim with her 1987 debut album, The Lion And The Cobra, before her cover of Prince's Nothing Compares 2 U catapulted her to international fame.
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
