LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM: The sudden death of Sinead O'Connor at the age of 56 left her fans devastated across the globe. Since July 26, several people have remembered her as a great soul and a kind human being. Dublin Mayor, Cllr Daithi de Roiste, reportedly said, “She was a phenomenal artist, a phenomenal talent, she had her own beliefs and she was able to put across all she believed in, in such a great manner.”
Roiste also told The Irish Mirror, “Her talent was out of this world. That voice — it is so powerful it takes you back to moments in life. We will come to terms with our loss and grief and then see what we can do to preserve her legacy.” But Newstalk host Sean Moncrieff shared a very different side of the late singer that few people know about — her sudden and often unpublicized acts of generosity.
‘I’ll pay for her counseling’
Moncrieff explained, “I never met Sinéad O’Connor but I do have this one kind of story that’s kind of related to the show. We’d had the parenting slot as usual and one question came in from a woman who was absolutely distraught. And then this woman went on to describe her situation, which was absolutely horrendous. She was a single parent, and her partner had just disappeared off the face of the map.”
The Irish broadcaster reportedly continued, “She had two kids as I recall, and I think at least one of them had behavioral difficulties so she was having to cope with that. Plus, also, she was broke. She had no money. And this woman had said, ‘I’d love to go to counseling, I know I need counseling, but I just can’t afford it.’ And within two or three minutes, we got a text following that, saying, ‘I’ll pay for her counseling.’”
“And it was from Sinéad O’Connor. And apparently, she did this kind of thing – I’ve heard from people who knew her – she used to do these kinds of things all the time, below the radar,” Moncrieff revealed, before adding, “They were the kind of things you wouldn’t really hear about. And there was a lot we knew about Sinéad O’Connor and in the public domain, but perhaps an awful lot we didn’t know at the same time. And that almost stuck with me as an example of somebody, literally and figuratively, putting their money where their mouth was.”
What was Sinead O'Connor's net worth?
O'Connor was believed to be the worth around $1.5 million, the majority of which she made making music. But in 2017, she disclosed the dark side of struggling with mental health issues. In a Facebook video, the ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ singer reportedly shared, “I am now living in a Travelodge motel in the asshole end of New Jersey. I’m all by myself.”
“And there’s absolutely nobody in my life except my doctor, my psychiatrist — the sweetest man on earth, who says I’m his bloody hero — and that’s about the only fucking thing keeping me alive at the moment… and that’s kind of pathetic. I want everyone to know what it’s like, that’s why I’m making this video. Mental illness, it’s like drugs, it doesn’t give a shit who you are, and equally what’s worse, it’s the stigma, it doesn’t give a shit who you are. Suddenly all the people who are supposed to be loving you and taking care of you are treating you like shit. It’s like a witch hunt,” O'Connor added.
