Sinéad O'Connor: ‘I don’t feel like me unless I have my hair shaved’
Sinéad O'Connor said she planned to keep shaving her head until she was an “old lady” as she never felt “herself” with hair.
Sinéad O'Connor never felt “herself” with hair.
The late singer, 56, claimed record company bosses tried to talk her into stopping shaving her locks, even though her legions of fans worldwide loved the look, and declared she wanted to keep her bald style until she was an “old lady”.
She said in a chat with TV psychologist Dr Phil, 72, which has resurfaced since her death in London on 26 July: “I don’t feel like me unless I have my hair shaved. So even when I’m an old lady, I’m going to have it. '
“My sister had the most beautiful red hair, glorious red hair, the type you'd be jealous of.”
Going on to talk about her abusive mum’s impact on her and her sister, she added in the 2017 sit-down: “My mother took it into her head that my sister’s hair was ugly, and horrible and disgusting.
“And she started, when I had long hair, she would introduce us as her pretty daughter and her ugly daughter.
“And that's why I cut my hair off. I didn’t want to be pretty.”
Sinéad also told the Irish Times about her striking look: “I have a skinhead, but I’m not a skinhead.
“I have the haircut because it makes me feel clear – it makes me feel good. I like to say, ‘I’m not a man or a woman – I’m Sinéad O’Connor.’”
Sinéad’s mum Johanna died in a 1985 car smash five years before the singer shot to global fame with her cover of Prince’s ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, accompanied by a video in which she started to cry while thinking about her mother.
She also told Dr Phil about her horrific relationship growing up with her mum: “She kicked the s*** out of me. She won’t change her clothes. She won’t wash. The same for us, five years of living in the same clothes. No washing.
“She won’t heat the house. She won’t get lights. She won’t get out of bed. She won’t stop taking drugs.
“She never tells me I’m pretty. She never tells me I’m sweet. She makes my little brother scream. She smells. There was a smell about her that was sickness. The smell of evil you know.”
