Sinead O’Connor Checking Into Rehab to Treat ‘Trauma and Addiction’

Sinéad O’Connor is entering a year-long rehab program following “a very traumatic six years.” In a Twitter-thread on Tuesday announcing the postponement of her shows originally scheduled for next year to 2022, the 53-year-old singer-songwriter revealed to fans that she’ll be seeking treatment for “trauma and addiction.”

Declaring that “recovery starts now,” the “Nothing Compares 2 U” singer wrote that “this year was the end” of her trauma and suffering. O’Connor, reflecting on the struggles she has faced, revealed that this year she lost someone “beloved,” which cause her to “become briefly addicted to a drug other than weed.” O’Connor explained she has been addicted to marijuana for 34 years, which she called a “lifetime.” The Grammy winner also revealed that “the last year has been very traumatic” as one of her children – she’s mom to sons Jake, 32, Roisin, 25, and Shane, 15 – was “unwell.” O’Connor did not detail that scenario, though she confirmed that her child “is thriving now.”

“I grew up with a lot of trauma and abuse. I then went straight into the music business. And never learned really how to make a normal life,” she wrote. “Never took proper time to heal. Wasn’t ready to either.”

Asking fans to be “supportive and understanding,” she encouraged them to hold onto their tickets, promising that she will “be back with a new album and tour.” She apologized “to anyone this causes inconvenience to.” She also requested that her music business partners support her in “taking this step toward making a life I am happy in. So that we can all make some money !!!”

“If taking this step means my career is over then so be it. As Mary Oliver says, I must save the only life I can,” she added, going on to reveal that “treatment begins next week so I’ll still be posting here until then. Mostly about what a total twat [Donald] Trump is. And how he’s way too stupid not to be clever. They may as well just have Putin openly in charge of America since he’s been running it for four years anyway.”

O’Connor’s announcement came just a day after she revealed that she had joined a mental health support group. In a tweet, she said that the leader of the group had told her that “it’s great that celebrities talk in public about their mental health issues.” The musician in the past has been open about her mental health struggles, just last month issuing a plea in which she said that she was starving and agoraphobia was preventing her from buying food at a store. She wrote that she had been “secretly living with a physically paralyzing, trauma-related case of acute low self-esteem for the last few years.”