I’ll be very frank with you: there has to be some speck of truth in the 2012 apocalyse – if not, how can so many marriages end as soon as they start? Add Irish singer-songwriter Sinéad O’Connor to The Naughty List: barely 18 days after she tied the knot to therapist Barry Herridge, she’s officially called it splitsville. However, her blogpost seems to denote a much earlier separation.
On her 18+ website Monday, the 45-year-old singer addressed her ‘friends’ and typed: “I had for reasons u will all understand, wished to keep this private but have been told today it is to be leaked in the next few days despite my best efforts. So I must now leak it myself so as the record is straight.”
Sinéad revealed she only lived with Barry for 7 days until Christmas Eve. She explained further how ‘certain people’ in Barry’s life placed ‘intense pressure… not to be involved with me’. This was allegedly based on media reports about her – Sinéad has four children from three previous marriages.
She further typed: “Within 3 hours of the ceremony being over the marriage was kyboshed by the behaviour of certain people in my husband’s life. And also by a bit of a wild ride i took us on looking for a bit of a smoke of weed for me wedding night as I don’t drink. My husband was enormously wounded and very badly effected by that experience and also by the attitude of those close to him toward our marriage. It became apparent to me that if he were to stay with me he would be losing too much to bear. And that being with me was not going to serve him positively.”
She claims she ‘set him free’ because she believes ‘a woman wants to be a joy to her husband’. Sinéad states: “He is a wonderful man. I love him very much. I’m sorry I’m not a more regular woman. I truly believe though it is painful to admit, we made a mistake rushing into getting married, for altruistic reasons, and weren’t aware or prepared for the consequences on my husband’s life and the lives of those close to him. He has been terribly unhappy and I have therefore ended the marriage. I think he is too nice to do so. And too nice to trap.”
Sinéad pleaded in the statement not to pester Barry due to his life’s private nature. She intends ‘to get on with being fully me’ and notes that their relationship was amicable during the period they were together. She expressed worry over how Barry and his family’s life will be affected by it, calling her only concern ’that my husband be happy’.
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COMMENTARY
Sure, love is potent. It’s such a heady, instinctual feeling that as soon as you recognise it, you just want to rush into it thinking “This is it, this is the one”. It just seems that celebs are rushing into marriage far too soon to think about the realities of such companionship. We would like to think celebs are not that money-hungry with pre-nups and coverage being sold out to major media outlets. (You know who we’re talking about.) Isn’t marriage about braving the odds, come what may?
Till death do us part?
The thing most celebs do not realise about their profession is the intense scrutiny they will get from the media. Sometimes, it is unwarranted: think paparazzi pictures and phone-hacking. Other times, it is just about constantly placing them in the public eye during the lull periods in their career.
Publicity and exposure is an inevitable part of the entertainment business. Heck, it’s part of everyday life now (if you broadcast every waking minute of your life on social media). It may be the fault of the media in certain situations, but the onus lies with the person himself or herself to prove to others what is real and what isn’t. (Ironic, since we did accidentally flame Tay Ping Hui recently.)
Sinéad failed to manage her in-laws’ expectations and could have been too careless into thinking that people will understand the situation they are getting themselves into. I’m not saying the tabloids are saints: I’m saying that when the media plays devil’s advocate, Sinéad & Co. could have used better judgement to clear the air internally.
For us, this case rests here. We wish her and Barry the best of luck. Bottomline: never get married in Vegas.
