Poor Sinead O’Connor. She went off her bipolar meds (really she did and she admitted it, I’m not just saying that) and then went trolling on the Internet for a good lay. Once she found one that stuck around for more than a couple of weeks, she married the dude in Vegas and invited the paps. Sinead got married on her 45th birthday to a 38 year-old “addiction counselor” she’d known less than two months. The happy couple made it official at the Little White Wedding Chapel, arriving in a convertible pink Cadillac. The bride wore a strapless pink dress, and the groom a suit with a pink dress shirt. Their happiness is a distant memory now, as Barry and Sinead split up, probably around the holidays. She made the announcement on her website in a long letter that I found pretty interesting. Like she anticipated what people would say and she explained herself without going into too many details. Sinead and Barry didn’t even live together for a week.
I had for reasons u will all understand, wished to keep this private but have been told today it is to be leaked in the next few days despite my best efforts. So I must now leak it myself so as the record is straight. I won’t under any circumstances ever have any further comments to make on this matter than those I write here this evening. Either privately or publicly.
From the moment myself and my husband got together not long ago, there was intense pressure placed upon him by certain people in his life, not to be involved with me. These were people who had never met me but had formed opinions of me based on what they read about ‘Sinead ‘O’Connor’ in the media etc. Entitled as they are to their opinions about me many perhaps well deserved, there was no righteousness on anyone’s part to put my husband through what he was put through as a result of his desire to be with me and to marry me and as a result of his actually marrying me.
Within 3 hours of the ceremony being over the marriage was kyboshed by the behaviour of certain people in my husband’s life. And also by a bit of a wild ride i took us on looking for a bit of a smoke of weed for me wedding night as I don’t drink. My husband was enormously wounded and very badly effected by that experience and also by the attitude of those close to him toward our marriage. It became apparent to me that if he were to stay with me he would be losing too much to bear. And that being with me was not going to serve him positively , career wise or any other wise. I saw his life leave him because of how people close to him reacted. And I can’t take anyone’s life. And a woman wants to be a joy to her husband. So.. U love someone? Set them free.
He is a wonderful man. I love him very much. I’m sorry I’m not a more regular woman. I truly believe though it is painful to admit, we made a mistake rushing into getting married, for altruistic reasons, and weren’t aware or prepared for the consequences on my husband’s life and the lives of those close to him. He has been terribly unhappy and I have therefore ended the marriage. I think he is too nice to do so. And too nice to trap.
He is as I said, a wonderful man. We part amicably. I wish him to be free and happy and loved and supported and for him to have privacy as that is utmost important for his job and for the children he treats as a therapist so I plead on theirs and his behalf for media to please leave him and his family alone. I really beg this. His family have health issues also and they not need the stress. Please do not doorstep them. Please be considerate of their feelings and leave them and my husband alone. I repeat this is of UTMOST importance to the wonderful children my husband helps every day. his work is his life. Publicity over all this could jeopardise his job. Please, don’t do that to him. or I will have that on my conscience as well. he is a private person. I’m fair game. He or his family are not.
Meanwhile I intend to get on with being fully me. With never an apology for ANY part if being FULLY ME. No matter what. I am a 21st century full woman and proud of living it. I am in a very good and happy and strong place in life so I am doing fine. The marriage was 16 days. We lived together for 7 days only.. Until Xmas eve. And we haven’t been awful to each other. So while I feel sad for my husband, and sad to be the cause of sorrow to yet another poor man, I’m also happy that I know we weren’t horrible to each other and he is better off free. And that I can be me. And that’s a freedom I can’t give up for anyone or anything. Neither should my husband or anyone else.
Please pray for my lovely husband to be ok and do not worry about me as I have had plenty of practice in these matters. I am in a good place in life. And happy. I believe in and am committed wholeheartedly to happiness. Nothing knocks that. My only concern is that my husband be happy.
As my good friend said “well, at least you got married in Vegas in a pink Cadillac! Can’t get more Rock n Roll than that”.
so now u can all go ahead and have a great laugh, media wise, and be horrid if u desire to. But that’s my record set straight.
[From Sinead O’Connor’s website]
Sinead has plenty of practice since she’s been married three times before. So what happened? I’m guessing that this dude has an ex wife and children and that the ex wife threatened him that he couldn’t see his kids. I can also come up with a mother-in-law scenario, but moms don’t hold as much pull as exes with kids usually. Plus Sinead is probably batsh*t and very difficult to deal with, and maybe this guy is a whack job too. If he were sane he never would have married her so soon in the first place.
My favorite title to this story is on Fark, where they point out that “Sinead O’Connor’s fourth marriage barely lasts more than seven hours and fifteen days.” It probably didn’t even last that long.
Sinead and Barry are shown on their wedding day, December 8th. They’re also shown on December 18th in Dublin outside a show. Credit: Pacific Coast News and WENN
Ohhhh, he’s an *addiction* counselor?! And she went trolling for pot?! Yes, I’m sure that did not go over well.
How come all the first messages today are blank? EDIT: never mind – as I was typing this, it suddently appeared.
That was my first thought as well.
My thoughts exactly. They were probably busted with weed, which put his career in jeopardy (and I’m sure his family caught wind of this and pointed out how this/she could potentially ruin his life).
Sad smut. Seriously she’s needs to go back on her medication, bless her.
She really does, what about her poor children!
Gahhh! It’s the “Kardashian Kurse”…..
…either that or the Pope’s.
lol, True!
Yeah, actually, it was pretty predictable. She doesn’t seem very stable lately at all.
Well that is really sad. But it’s not like everybody didn’t see it coming. He looks too normal to be with a rock star, seems too unstable to be an addiction counselor, and well, she looks like a butcher as somebody on this site once said. She needs somebody strong, who is as eccentric as she is.
And yet in many states it’s still illegal for people of the same sex to marry. *smdh*
THE first thing I thought of. And, this “marriage” of Sinead’s is recognized by the US Federal Government, whereas no legal same-sex marriages are.
Nice, eh?
Yes, it is a travesty, isn’t it?
Oh my God. Yes I’m typing it out fully because this board is so f—ing hypocritical about this issue, I can’t even see straight.
Stop using heterosexual couples whose marriages are failed as a reason why gay marriage should be legal when some of these same people will get on here and talk shit about the Sister Wives and the Duggars. I can’t stand that shit.
If you feel gay marriage should be legal, the all types of marriage-at least between human beings-should be legalised. Until then let’s not stand on our soaps boxes and attack hetero couples as if gays or any other kinds of relationship view the institutions of marriage so highly. Just ask Melissa Ethridge.
Utter and complete crap. This dude responded to her public ad! This dude knew she was Sinead O’Connor and who doesn’t know Sinead O’ friggin Connor!? Then they rush into marriage barely two months into the relationship (many people would try to advice to hold out a little longer!). As if people didn’t warn him beforehand! Her fame has got nothing to do it with it in this case. It’s the public suicide mentioning (a human feeling but nonetheless very unhealthy) and the blatant spread of her personal and sex life. That was her own doing, not some invention from the press. I thought it was refreshing but reading how she now deals with it, is pathetic. You reap what you sow honey.
Then not only do they announce the marriage but also invite the press?! Don’t come complaining later about how difficult it is to deal with negative backlash peepz. You invited the world into your marriage and the dude couldn’t handle the pressure anymore. You would think that at their age and experience, they would be more smarter and mature than this foolery. A relationship is hard work and takes a lot effort. They could have started by keeping this private if he was scared for his job and family’s reaction? Oh but of course, it’s their fault that the marriage failed right? That’s why you need to write a long statement recounting exactly what went wrong. A good way to keep your privacy I guess, the same thing that destroyed the marriage anyway! Proven once again: age and maturity do not run parallel.
I guess this dude couldn’t step away from the drama at his job and had to take it home. Some people just can’t help saving others to ignore their own issues (not saying he has issues, but you never know…)
I need to stop reading about O’Connor because it takes the joy out of listening to her music.
Get the f* out of here, both of you…
it’s not immaturity, it’s a constant need for attention. she was always like this and i was a fan early in her career. she would say stupid shit to the press and then cry about how they were sooo mean to her. she was also anti-social as in being anti-society and i guess she never got over her being left to a penitentiery for shoplifting. i don’t even think she’s bipolar. she probably went to a therapy for her many problems and doctors today put a diagnosis on everyone and once you quit those horrid bipolar meds, anybody would start acting manically. she’s a sad case
This reminds me very much of that one marriage of Patty Duke’s before she was diagnosed as Bi Polar.
my oh my! I wonder if he knew she was off of her bipolar medications and I also find it strange (as stated above by another poster) that he is an addiction counselor and she goes looking for pot on their wedding night.
Why did they bother to get married?
I think both of them have problems.
What kind of addiction counter gets into a whirlwind marriage with a unmedicated bipolar woman who very much looks like she’s going through a manic phase (hypersexuality, impulsivity)? Red flags everywhere. He should be able to recognize common mental illnesses, since they’re so often co-morbid with addiction. I mean, really, I’m not surprised he’s getting flack in his professional life.
*counter = counselor
And, just to clarify, it’s not that bipolar people don’t deserve love, but homeboy should’ve put the brakes on and slowed things down until she is closer to her “right mind,” whatever that may be.
Agreed. I’m not a mental health professional and even I figured it out. I’d say there’s something wrong with this guy as well.
maybe he was a long-time fan who loved her for being the sinead o’connor as a celeb? if that’s the case it’s not a healthy sign either… celebs are just regular people warts and all. at an adult age, only a weirdo would worship that image and have problems seeing the reality of it all.
Hmm, I’m not so happy with calling a mentally-ill woman ‘batshit’ but anyway. Many addiction counselors are ex-junkies themselves. Her trawling for pot may have freaked him out as a recovering addict. It’s all very sad.
What!? I was listening to her do a phone interview on Irish radio just 10 days ago and she was saying how happy she was with this guy. She really did sound it, too. I hope Sinead gets her shit together next year. She does need the help I think.
I’m sure she was very happy and would still be, if his own life and career wasn’t diametrically opposed to hers. HE should’ve known better, in spades! She’s been honest the whole time about her eccentricities, painfully so. He did not think at all when he agreed to go out with her on her first date even. I question his stability more than hers at the moment.
I don’t think this is sad. Silly, yes…but not sad. They wanted an adventure. They got one.
NEXT!!
He probably thought he could rescue her and she probably enjoyed the nurturing. I think the letter is well written and in it she takes responsibility for her own past actins and choices. It sounds to me as if she is back on her meds and is loving enough to not hold him to a contract made on impulse. Good for her.
This poor woman’s kids must be mortified. She is insanely talented (was blessed enough to see her during her relatively same “Lion and Cobra” phase) but a total mess and always has been. The thing is, her 4 kids don’t need the drama she constantly seeks for herself. She was calmest while married to John Reynolds, her oldest child’s dad. She really needs strong meds and a stabilizing partner, but I don’t think she’s going to get it. Wonder where her kids are? The eldest has to be in his 20s, but I think the others are just kids.
she is soooo bipolar. please take your meds, sinead. all her actions, including the letter (which i find to be rambling) are typical manic phase symptoms.
He has a Frankenstein forehead, just look in that one picture of him how it sticks out. Also it is very wide, huge Frankenstein forehead.
… soooo he should never be with anyone, with that horrible forehead, right? 🙄
good grief.
I didn’t even know she was bipolar.
Come to think of it, I’d say it’s pretty obvious.
…and this is ONE of a thousand ways to get back into the media spotlight. Next stop…album release and appearance at the music awards.
Kim Kardashian just got replaced in the final stretch for most ridiculous ‘marriage’ of 2011. Ugh what a cluster
Sinead go back on your meds, this is just sad
Why are so many celebs bi-polar?
Well if by “celebs” you actually mean talented actors, musicians, and such, then it makes sense. Bipolar people can be very creative and artistic.
Please, all of you don’t “diss” a person with bipolar disease…doesn’t make them anymore less than a person afflicted with lets say, diabetes, autisim, or leukemia…they do not choose their medical diagnosis. I DO agree that she and he should have had more insight. Him as a “therapist” and her as a mother.
i don’t think all of them are clinically bipolar. they abuse substances too much and too soon they are pushed into a world where millions worship their fart, and they are rich enough to afford the crazy lifestyle. nowadays it seems modern science thinks it can heal a whole bunch of self indulgent big babies by pushing the closest diagnosis on each (which would be bipolar today but borderline was a popular diagnosis before) then they medicate these people, with meds that make them quasi living vegetables, and are addictive. the meds make them braindead as well. while some bipolar people have artistic phases, no correlation between the number of artists and bipolar was found. and these people are not likely bipolar, just rich, indulgent and foolish. and suffering from side effects of these facts.
I wouldn’t say that all medications make everybody living vegetables though. Sinead actually needs hers, obviously they do her some good. And bad when she goes off them.
People who are extremely intelligent, creative, and/or talented have a much higher risk of having several mental illnesses. It’s a double-edged sword.
sounds like he has some sick MUM, that is badgering him–not to mention his JOB, as addiction coach and on their honeymoon night–she tries to score weed..
smdh
I hope she finds a chap that she can really make it with.
So we know what’s wrong with her, the question is what’s wrong with him that he thought this was even remotely a good idea?
EXACTLY! He’s an idiot!
Sinead needs to go back on her meds. And maybe go under some sort of conservatorship, like Britney Spears, because she’s out of control and has been for years.
I said it when they got married, and I’m saying it now – she needs to get some help, for herself and for her kids’ sakes too. Good luck to her.
Who is Sinead O’Connor? Never heard of her before.
you must be really young. she was a sort of a protest singer/one hit wonder/professional attention ho of the late 80’s and early nineties.
Honestly, I feel sad for her. She is a mess. I was hoping he would be perfect for her, but he must have some major issues also.
Good lord, doesn’t she have a minder or someone who can say uh no, BAD idea to marry a guy you met 12 seconds ago??? I’ve always loved Sinead as an artist and a personality but the non-stop crazy is getting tedious. Of course, the bi-polar factor explains a lot.
how long did i give them before? was it 5 weeks? wow i was being generous i guess. i bet she made a lot of money in the 90’s and is now wasting away to have fun. she no longer knows what to do with herself, and her industry is cruel to those who lose their good looks and youth. and she lost her voice due to years and years of heavy smoking. she should be a mommy to her kids but she seems to suffer from post partum still. she said she would be glad to have the child services take them from her… i think most importantly, she should take her effing meds. the mental health of you and the people you love is more important than gaining a couple of extra pounds.
just checked the old thread, apparently i gave’em 5 months! wow i was too optimistic
lol the “at least you got married in vegas in a pink cadillac” part… she seems to be treating marriage as entertainment. i know people like that. she already said this was my dream wedding and i was like wtf it’s the tackiest thing to be married like that, and divorce like a kardashian at the first crisis that hits you–the whole point of marriage is to endure the bad times as well as the good times right? this was like a weekend activity to her. too much money to waste, too much laziness and entertainment. btw that pink cadillac apparently is part of the wedding package in that church. i don’t trust wikipedia by any means however they had a photo of this car describing the “drive-in” concept. i think cadillac’s are fugly. sorry caddy fans 🙁 i know it’s a classic but so are volkswagen beetles and i can’t get into either :/
I’d of been shocked had it lasted. But it is sorta sad because she looks so pretty and happy in the wedding pics. Him too, if a bit nervous. He’s pretty cute.
I know Sinead’s idol is BOb Marley and he makes her amount of baby daddies/husbands look nunnish. I don’t think you have to have the same status quo ideas about realtionships to be a moral person. To me, this is diiffereant than the Kardashian thing because the Kardashian wedding costed millions.
Whereas Sinead’s was the typical “cheap Vegas” affair.
Sinead’s open about her parenting and seems really into her children and loving as a mother.
Anyway I think she seems funny and sweet in interviews. And really smart too if you see her in certain interviews like when she speaks out about child abuse.
Sinead has talked about buying crack that night. I’m sure she loves her kids when she bothers raising them and isn’t sunk into the mire of her own issues. She is beyond self centered. Imagine people knowing your mom is trolling for strange all over the internet, bragging about it to the press, buying drugs and bragging about THAT- this woman is a complete moron and I used to be a huge fan. She was happy while she had the “high” of a new boyfriend, attention, etc. Nothing real or grounded makes her happy. Thank God her tubes are tied.