News
It's third time unlucky for Sinead as she ends marriage
By Ken Sweeney
Thursday Apr 14 2011
CONTROVERSIAL Irish singer Sinead O'Connor has called time on her third marriage.
The Irish Independent has learned that the 45-year-old split with husband Steve Cooney three weeks ago, just eight months after they wed while on tour last summer in Europe.
On Sunday, April 3, while performing at 'The Music Of Ghost Light' in the Abbey Theatre in Dublin, it was first noticed that O'Connor was no longer wearing her wedding ring.
She was also without the ring when she was photographed on Monday outside a coffee shop in Bray with her former partner Frank Bonadio.
Contacted by the Irish Independent, O'Connor confirmed last night that she and Cooney (57) had separated.
"Steve is lovely so it's not his fault but mine.
"It was an extremely happy marriage.
"I'm heartbroken about it breaking up," she said.
The mother of four has often spoken about suffering from bipolar disorder.
Until recently, she was dealing with it by use of medication but said she stopped because it resulted in her putting on weight.
"I didn't mind putting on weight -- the problem is strangers telling me I was fat. That was hard on our marriage," she added.
In recent months O'Connor and Cooney had been "unfortunately" spending time apart.
O'Connor's new album 'Home' is due out in June, while Cooney is studying for a PhD.
O'Connor announced her wedding to Australian musician Cooney via a statement on her official website on July 22, 2010.
Conquering
"We who run this site are very happy to announce the marriage of Steve Cooney and Sinead O'Connor has taken place this morning," read the statement.
"Thanks be to the Great Lord Jah. Rastafarai. Dread I. Conquering Lion I. One love."
Cooney, previously a member of Irish band Stockton's Wing, is part of O'Connor's touring band.
However, a family member told the Irish Independent: "The negative tone of the media coverage of her marriage sparked her illness and she became suicidal."
O'Connor has been married twice before.
Her first marriage was to writer John Reynolds, who also produced several of her albums, including 'Universal Mother'.
They have a son Jake (24) together.
She then had a daughter, Roisin, in 1996, with journalist John Waters.
In 2001, she married journalist Nick Sommerlad after a whirlwind romance but they split less than two years later and she went on to have son Shane with folk musician Donal Lunny in 2004.
She was involved with Mary Coughlan's ex-husband, American Frank Bonadio, whom she split from earlier last year after four years together.
However, the two, who have a son Yeshua Francis Neil (4) together, remain good friends and were spotted enjoying a coffee together near her home in Bray, Wicklow, last Tuesday.
- Ken Sweeney
Irish Independent