Sinead O’Connor, 50, got super real with Dr. Phil, 67, during an explosive Sept. 12 interview. In her tell-all, the singer detailed the horrendous abuse she went through as a child at the hands of her very own mother, Marie O’Connor. The “torture” started when she was “zero” years old and continued until she ran away at age 13. “She was really very, very, very not well. I would say she was possessed, although I’m not sure I believe in such things. So either she was just a sadist and a pedophile, or she was possessed by the devil,” Sinead told Dr. Phil of her mom. Click here to see pics of Sinead O’Connor.
“She ran a torture chamber. She was a person who took delight, would smile in hurting you.” When asked what her mother did to her, Sinead sighed, “Where do I start?” She then explained that her earliest memory was of her mom telling her she “shouldn’t have been born” and that she “didn’t want” her. As it turns out, Marie wanted Sinead to be a boy — and she made that VERY clear to her young daughter. “She dresses me like a boy, she chops my hair off,” Sinead recalled to the doctor. “Whenever she beats me, which is daily, I’m naked. She makes me take my clothes off, I have to lie on the floor.”
The star continued, “I have to open my arms and legs, I have to let her attack my abdomen. She wants to burst my womb. She wants to destroy my reproductive — she wants me to stop being a female.” Marie would “stamp” on young Sinead “with her feet,” and if the phone rang during the abuse, she would stop to answer it and have a completely different tone. “She’d be like, ‘Oh hi, how are you?'” Sinead mimicked in a cheerful voice. Meanwhile, “her foot would be on my [beeped out] naked on the floor. I’m three, four, five years old.”
Sinead recalled another traumatizing incident from her childhood when her mom “beat the sh*t” out of her when a dress she was wearing lost a button. As further punishment, Sinead wasn’t allowed to go with the family on a weekend trip. Instead, her mom locked her in a room and took away the only lightbulb that was in the room. “We used to be terrified, the last day of school and summer was the most unhappy day of our lives,” the artist revealed. “All the other kids would be delighted, we’d be hiding the hockey sticks and the tennis rackets and crying because we’re stuck with her for the summer.”
Marie also made Sinead repeat over and over again, “I am nothing” while she was being beaten. And on top of that, the troubled star claims she’s been raped several times throughout her life — including by her mom. However, she never expanded on that. After Sinead ran away at 13, she began to have a good relationship with her mom since they were no longer living under the same roof. When Sinead was 19 though, her mother died in a car crash, and Sinead had not talked to her for nine months beforehand.
“I miss her horribly. I ache for her,” Sinead told Dr. Phil. “I’ve forgiven her and I love her.” At the same time however, Sinead couldn’t say enough horrible things about her mother. “She won’t stop taking drugs, she won’t get out of bed, she won’t wash us,” Sinead said when Dr. Phil asked her to picture her mom. “She told me I’m evil and I’m the reason my dad left… I thought I was so evil but if I sang, I had a chance of getting into heaven.”
Clearly Sinead has had a very rough life. Just earlier this summer in August, the star posted a disturbing video online revealing she was suicidal. “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 hero – and that’s about the only f***ing thing keeping me alive at the moment… and that’s kind of pathetic,” she said. “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 sh*t who you are, and equally what’s worse, it’s the stigma, it doesn’t give a sh*t who you are. Suddenly all the people who are supposed to be loving you and taking care of you are treating you like sh*t. It’s like a witch hunt.”
Since her interview taping with Dr. Phil however, she has been getting treatment for her bipolar disorder, which she was diagnosed with over a decade ago. Dr. Phil told his audience that she has made unbelievable strides. We wish Sinead all the best!
Tell us, HollywoodLifers — are you shocked to hear about Sinead’s incredibly painful past? Can you believe these things happened to her as a child?