Sinéad O’Connor spent years secretly paying for fans’ medical treatments and therapy: ‘She used to do it all the time!’
After earning millions in the wake of her ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ hit, Sinéad O’Connor spent years secretly paying for her fans’ medical treatments and therapy.
Sinéad O’Connor spent years secretly paying for her fans’ medical treatments and therapy.
The singer and fiery human rights activist, who was found dead in London on 26 July after moving from her native Ireland to the city for the first time in 23 years to finish what turned out to be her final record, was well known for donating huge chunks of money to charities close to her heart, but people are now coming forward to tell how she quietly helped the impoverished with hospital and counselling bills.
Newstalk host Sean Moncrieff, 62, told listeners how the ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ singer paid for a helpless mum’s therapy after Sinéad heard the anguish in her voice as she spoke live on air during a radio segment.
He said: “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, her partner had just disappeared off the face of the map.
“She had two kids as I recall, and I think at least one of them had behavioural difficulties so she was having to cope with that. Plus, also, she was broke. She had no money.
“She had virtually no means of support. She was not really managing to put food on the table and she was feeling the wheels coming off, she was in an awful state.
“And this woman had said, ‘I’d love to go to counselling, I know I need counselling, but I just can’t afford it.’
“And within two or three minutes, we got a text in following that, saying, ‘I’ll pay for her counselling.’
“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.
“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.”
There have also been reports Sinéad paid for many of her neighbours’ medical care in Ireland.
Sinéad spent years in therapy and her death came 18 months after the suicide of her son Shane, 17.
In her final social media post she tweeted a picture of her late boy and said: “Been living as undead night creature since. He was the love of my life, the lamp of my soul. We were one soul in two halves. He was the only person who ever loved me unconditionally. I am lost in the bardo without him.”
