Stuck

Why we can't (or won't) move on from bad jobs, bad relationships, and bad habits, and how we can all move ahead.

by Anneli Rufus

Police Rush to Sinead O'Connor's Home Fearing Suicide Threat

Celebrity meltdowns spark public feeding frenzies.

Published on September 15, 2011 by Anneli Rufus in Stuck

Police rushed to Sinead O'Connor's home in Ireland last night after the famed singer posted an apparent series of suicide notes online.

According to the Irish Herald, 44-year-old mother-of-four O'Connor "posted a string of messages online last night which revealed her fragile mental state." According to the Herald, these messages included:

"Now I wish I was dead. No hope. Anyway...If anyone knows how I can kill myself without my kids finding out I did it deliberately please tell me."

And:

"I want to go to heaven so bad. Have for years."

And:

"But I don't want to abandon my kids. But if I could die without them knowing I did it myself, I would."

The singer has drawn mockery in the media over the last few months after posting online requests for male companionship following her April divorce. Some of those postings were startlingly explicit. As excerpted at the Sioux City Journal (and many other sites), O'Connor wrote–clearly in jest, through the pain of her depression–that she would consider "literally anyone who applies," but that preferably her new companion "MUST BE BLIND ENOUGH TO THINK I'M GORGEOUS," must be hairy, must not be named Nigel, and "MUST BE LIVING IN IRELAND BUT I DON'T CARE IF HE IS FROM THE PLANET ZOG."

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Following the death last month of Real Housewives husband Russell Armstrong, the media put on a sad serious face and said somberly that suicide is no joke–even celebrity suicide. Yet as someone who lost a friend to suicide in 2007, and who still struggles with guilt for not having been able to save her, I can only imagine how it must feel to go through those self-destructive torments while being a public figure whose every word and action is watched by millions and becomes instant media fodder.

And yes, I'm part of the media and now I'm posting about O'Connor's suicide post. So I'm part of the problem. I could say that I'm simply aiming to draw attention to the tragedy of suicide and asking us all to take suicide threats seriouslywhether these threats come from our friends, family members, strangers or the famous. I could say that. And it would be partly true.