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The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Lifestyle
Inga Parkel,Annabel Nugent and Peony Hirwani

Sinead O’Connor – latest: Longtime friend Bob Geldof says singer was ‘full of a terrible loneliness’

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Sinead O'Connor dies, aged 56

Tributes to Irish singer Sinead O’Connor are continuing to pour in, in the wake of the Irish singer’s death aged 56.

Thousands of fans, fellow musicians and public figures have shared their love for O’Connor since her family confirmed the Dublin-born musician had died.

O’Connor’s longtime friend, singer Bob Geldof, paid tribute to the “Mandinka” singer over the weekend at Ireland’s Cavan Calling festival.

Addressing the crowd, Geldof recalled the nature of his final texts with O’Connor before her death.

“Many, many times Sinead was full of a terrible loneliness and a terrible despair,” he said. “She was a very good friend of mine. We were talking right up to a couple of weeks ago. Some of her texts were laden with desperation and despair and some were ecstatically happy. She was like that.”

O’Connor spoke about living with bipolar disorder during a televised interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2007, explaining how she suffered from suicidal thoughts.

“I don’t think I was born with bipolar disorder – I believe it was created as a result of the violence I experienced,” she told Winfrey, referring to the abuse she’d experienced from her mother as a child.

Later, in 2013, O’Connor told fans that she’d been misdiagnosed and that she was instead suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

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