This story is a couple of days old by now, but there are new-ish quotes which compel me to cover it. As you may know, Irish singer Sinead O’Connor recently had the initials B and Q tattooed in script on her face, one on each cheek. Many people were hoping that the lettering was in red ink, but O’Connor confirmed that it was an actual tattoo in honor of a guy who did her wrong. She wrote on her blog that the tats stood for “Brendan Quinlan.. ‘It’s what it is’ … Un ange passe ; ) There’s a bottle of Agent Provocateur in someone’s room that belongs to me.”
O-kay. Later, Sinead gave these quotes clarifying why she got the tattoo. “It is a B and a Q … the initials of the last man who is ever going to s*** all over me. It’s dangerous to be considered pretty. I feel safer having unprettied my face and he doesn’t get to forget. So I’m double happy – we musicians do things differently.”
Sinead has been very open about her battle with bipolar disorder, and she’s been open about her ongoing issues with men. Sinead, 46, got married for the fourth time in late 2011 to a guy she’d known just a few weeks. She then announced less than a month later that they were divorcing. Sinead admitted that her new husband, a drug counselor, did not approve of her drug use. The two reconciled shortly afterwards, but I guess they must have split up permanently again. That guy she married was named Barry Herridge, so he’s not the one implicated by her cheek tattoos. They’re in honor of a subsequent guy who slighted her.
I just hope Sinead is ok and that she has friends around to help her through this. She seems to think that the answer to her problems is to stay away from men, and that she’s somehow getting revenge by tattooing her face. It only hurts her. She’s going to have to look at those initials every single day! Plus she has kids who depend on her. Sinead has four children by four different men, the youngest of whom is are six and href=”http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1351819/Sin-ad-OConnor-I-welcome-visit-social-service-Im-finding-hard-cope-mum.html”>eight year-old sons. It seems like neither father is in the picture. Her other kids are a 17 year-old daughter and a 26 year-old son.
What kind of tattoo artist would agree to do this? I get that she’s famous but the person who did this ink should be ashamed. Maybe she can hide it with Dermablend or something. Laser treatments would be painful and it’s not like she can get more tattoos to cover it up.
Performing in Milan, Italy in July before she got the tattoos
Photo credit: WENN.com
Not on her medication.
She is clearly mentally ill. Beyond bi-polar. I hope she gets the help she needs but she seems too hostile to let that happen. So sad. And doubly sad for the kids that have to live with it.
ITA. Such a shame that a talented woman and mother struggles with illness seemingly beyond her control.
bipolar. One word. No dash.
Actually, O’Connor has admitted to being bipolar, and participates in a mental illness site based in the UK. She has been really generous with her experiences with MI, and supportive of other posters there.
While I agree with UghInsomnia (who posted downthread) that every time someone does something crackers, people cry, “Bipolar!” or “Mental illness!” in this case, well, it actually IS the case.
Also bipolar, and I know the vicious cycle of taking meds-feel better- get off meds- crash & repeat. In my younger years I have done things that still bring the flaming shame to my cheeks.
I saw her on Graham Norton after that last batch of drama she had, and she was refreshingly open about it, gave an eye-mistingly wonderful singing performance, and then talked about how people shouldn’t joke about mental health and instead, reach out and help someone because they might not be able to fully control their erratic behavior but that bipolars needed professional help, sometimes meds, and love, too. Put a few to shame, her speech. But it was gentle and said she basically had to forgive herself for it, and seek help and teach kindness and tolerance for the mentally ill.
I worry for Sinead and wish her well.
And to lighten the tone: I love, love, love her suit. I wore a suit with shorts like that (but pinstriped) in my far-behind-me salad days. With knee-high DMs. Sigh @ current uniform of jeans, t-shirts and country living wellies.
“I worry for Sinead and wish her well.”
Me too 🙁
I love her outfit too, especially love the thigh-high cowboy boots.
At least this tatt isn’t black. I understand red tatts fade quickly and I’ve seen where that’s the case on somebody I know.
Yikes.
The tattoo artist may not have even known what the initials represented. It would be nice, if s/he did know, that s/he advised against it, but let’s face it, those artists aren’t studied in the practice of psychology and talk therapy.
Nooothing compares to youuuuu
um ok
Wow.. Not good. I’m surprised she has custody of the little ones. She seems incapable of taking care of just herself.
That was my first thought. How does she still have custody of them?
Girl needs some help. 🙁
Tattooing his initials on your face punishes him…….in what reality? His face is just fine.
Poor woman.
Yeah, that’s some disordered thinking. I hope she gets help and fast.
Yep. He never has to look at her face again if he doesn’t want to. She, on the other hand, has to live with it (and be reminded of him and whatever he did) everyday.
Sad.
It’s like she’s drinking poison AT him.
The guy has probably already forgotten that… Ze on the other hand…well, she never will cos she will get to see the tattoo a number times a day…each day…!
Now, if she somehow had gotten him to get her initials on his face, this story would be making some sense!
I am bipolar, and the misconceptions about this disorder are alarming. There are varying degrees of course, but anytime someone does something “crazy,” people immediately shout, “BIPOLAR!” It stigmatizes an already misunderstood disorder.
I don’t really have a point to this, just wanted to say that.
That must be tough. Thanks for sharing your views.
Good point, and thank you. It’s ridiculous how misunderstood the illness is. Many people are uninformed & are talking where they shouldn’t be talking. The thing is, in this case she could have been manic when she got the tatoos. If so, she would have thought it was a fantastic idea at the time… That’s classic Bipolar behavior.
Yup Im bi-polar (maybe) too. Well, I’ve had some doctors say I wasn’t and some insist I am, but the thing is, whether or not I am, it has very little negative impact on my life. I’m a happy person, rarely sad or angry, but I can be extremely passionate at times and when under stress or nervous, sometimes I have so many thoughts going through my head that I can have a hard time articulating myself until I calm down. And Im paranoid of everything to the point that usually Im just paranoid that its just me being paranoid, and I constantly ignore my feelings and instincts just to find out they were right from the beginning. I Dont take any medications for bi polar, and its not like I Dont ever have negative thoughts, bc I do, but I just recognize when Im being negative and try harder. I Dont think, if I am bi polar, that these qualities about me are a problem. I like my unique way of thinking and my friends also love this about me too. Bc I will never do what I look down on in others, being two faced, focusing on peoples negative traits over their positive, bitterness etc. And Im the. type that if I say something, you can count on me doing it, or vice versa if its something I Dont like, I won’t do it. I just see hypocrites left and right though.
Bipolar. One word. No dash.
And yes, the misconceptions of this disorder (I’m bipolar, as well) is pretty amazing.
And (,) yes + ARE pretty amazing. 😛
Anyways, I just hope people on these sites realize that if some people don’t edit their comments, it may just be because they don’t care to.
But, thank you for the correction. Otherwise I would still be using the dash, and the word is easier to type without it.
I appreciate you posting this – any questionable action/outrageous criminal activities, etc tend to get tossed onto the backs of the mentally ill.
People, maybe Ariel Castro was just evil – it does exist, y’know?
I can promise you, as a mentally ill person, I have never: cannibalized/set up a dungeon in my crawl space/kidnapped/killed my: kids/parents/significant other/hitchhiking strangers, etc. Most of the mentally ill haven’t.
However, Ms O’Connor has admitted to biploar – as I mentioned upthread, she is very generous with her support for others with MI. I admire her. She’s one of the few people who spoke out against the Catholic church and priests sexual abuse against children back when it was decidedly unpopular to do so (bet Madonna & Joe Pesci feel a little stupid right now?)
That’s right, she was the ONLY public figure willing to do something to bring awareness to the catholic molestation cover ups.
I couldn’t agree more. I am not bipolar, but I studied psychology and it seems that bipolar is just the trendy armchair diagnosis for people who want to sound smart. Narcissistic personality disorder seems to be rising in trendiness too.
Oh dear. God bless her.
Not sure if this is being metioned in US but press here (Ireland) have suggested Miley Cyrus is ripping off Sinead in general and particularly in her Wrecking Ball video.
I would like to see what those boots look like that she has on….
Oh and in that 4th picture, she looks like Demi Moore in the movie GI Jane!!!
Okay, so you tattoo a guys initials on YOUR face so HE doesn’t get to forget. Right.
Damn. I thought she was still with her husband. I knew they had issues, but I was hoping he could save her. I know that is not likely, but still.
I just wish her well. She makes me so sad.
Girl what were you smoking.
I mean her behavior was so erratic that the public and media was very worried about her yet he thought she was well enought mentally to get married. He was a user what type of “drug counselor” would marry her after knowing her for a few weeks and when she was not in her right mind.
That has nothing to do with being mentally ill. That is just plain stupid and childish.
Wrong. This is exactly the sort of thing an unstable, confused bipolar person would do. Unless you are bipolar I don’t think you can really make such a generalization. I mean, it *is* stupid and childish, but when I have episodes, I am not myself at all, and this sort of thing is extreme, but also fairly much par for the course if a person stays in an unstable state of mind for too long.
Frankly, her instability, chaos, rage and swinging from extremes of idealization to devaluation in romantic relationships seems far far more borderline than manic depressive, but I’m not going to defend modern psychiatric (mis)diagnosis. Point is, she is clearly sick and doesn’t seem to be getting the help she needs…
I feel for her. She’s struggling with a lot of issues, and probably made this decision in a poor state and will now have to live with it.
I wish her well, and her kids too.
I feel sorry for her troubles but man this chick is talented!
Her voice is divine, like no other.Just heavenly.
as if a broken heart wasn’t enough and you needed a constant reminder by adding a tattoo on your face. wtf?!
She doesn’t seem to be getting proper treatment for her disorder. Maybe hers is particularly difficult to treat. It’s so upsetting, especially because she’s such a great artist and a really good person as well.
I think she has anger issues that have never been really addressed, that go beyond just being bipolar. Or maybe it’s her punk background and this is how she defines herself as an artist and/or as a person–I truly suspect this is mostly the case. Either way, the woman is extremely talented but has been fractious since her early twenties–back then she used her age as an excuse, but that’s hardly an option now.
And I don’t judge–I have severe anger issues due to an abusive background that I really don’t know how to address, either. I just thank the universe that I haven’t had to be on a world stage while dealing with them.
Big, uncontrolled outbursts of anger are pretty common with untreated bipolar disorders. It doesn’t mean every bipolar person does that. Mental illness looks a little different on everyone.
Thiajoka – Have you ever heard of Pema Chodron? She counsels people with issues like yours – she does wonderful audiobooks. One of the best ones is Don’t Bite the Hook. She is a very calming influence.
No, I haven’t heard of her–I’ll check her out. I have tried therapy and it hasn’t worked for me. Mainly, I suspect because I’m in a small town as are both my parents, now divorced–they are elderly and I’m chronically ill, so we all sort of have to put up with each other. I don’t get the distance I need to heal.
Anyway, that’s my excuse. 🙂
She needs to back off the priest look. Hono Lulu did it first and does it way the fuck better.
I am not sure it is just a look for her. I could have sworn I read about her being a priest in a sect that allows female priests.
Tattoo artists vary. Many traditional long term (not Kat V) will not go onto feet, hands, neck, face. Due to tradition in part and Chinese/Japanese old school elements.
The tattoo artists I know (my brother included) will not do that type of ink in visible places unless the person is pretty much already covered and knows what they are getting into. They do not do it to people who are high or drunk or way too young. My brother would never blow out someones neck for their first tattoo.
Her mental health was/is well publicized so I do not think highly of this tattoo artist. You could make the argument she is a performer so she does not have to go and try and get a 9-5 job with a tattoo on her face.
Sinead has always struggled with severe issues, and the kids have always had to struggle along with her. She’s not that much older than me- I still have a cassette tape of The Lion and the Cobra- and I remember even then feeling badly for her eldest, Jake, because she was hauling him all over the country while acting really unstable. And his dad is a really stable guy and a good friend to her. She’s one of those women who has kids to fill a hole inside and doesn’t realize you’re supposed to be filling the kids up.
And she DOES need to stay away from men. She gets herself crazy over them, and is always on the hunt for them, and in a relationship, or breaking up, or just into a new one.