In 1992, Sinead O’Connor dared to be bold. She tore up a picture of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live to protest child abuse scandals within the Roman Catholic Church. In the aftermath, she was booed, banned, teased and considered by her supporters to be one of the most misunderstood artists of her time. In subsequent years, O’Connor made headlines with rumors that she was a ***. During the fall tour for her critically acclaimed new album, Theology, the Irish pop singer talked with Current’s Souleo about her faith, sexuality and love of a good ole shag.
On the new album, the song “The Glory of Jah” refers to your embrace of the Rastafari faith. You once stated that Rasta saved your life. How so?
I grew up in a Catholic country—a very black-and-white way of thinking, symbolized even by what the priests were wearing. It was really a religious dictatorship. The Rastas would laugh and joke about how stupid and ridiculous Catholicism was. When you take something that is a bully and frightening, and you actually bring it down to size by mocking it, that somehow helps you overcome the negative effects of having been oppressed by that thing.
Ultimately, did your experience with the Rastas make you more or less comfortable with your Catholicism?
I’ve always been comfortable with my Catholic faith. The fact that I might have arguments with the Church doesn’t mean that I’m not comfortable with my faith.
You once came out as a *** and then retracted that statement. How do you identify sexually now?
There are two points I should make. I’ve had relationships with women, or not so much relationships, but, uh, sexual trysts. [Laughs] In my life I have kind of explored my sexuality in as many ways as I could without getting strange.
You’ve loved.
Yeah, but also sometimes you wanna f**k as well. Basically I’ve shagged a few women. I don’t know where that puts me but I like big, hairy men better.
How do you reconcile your sexuality with the strict orders from Catholicism and Rastafari against any homosexual behavior or thoughts?
I can take on board the good things about a religious tradition, and the pointless and stupid rules would roll off me like water off of a duck’s back. Those are rules that men made. I don’t believe that God made those rules. For example, God created gay people, so what’s everybody bitching about?
So what is the faith of Sinead O’ Connor?
If I had to describe it, I like the Holy Spirit. There’s a spirit—it doesn’t matter what you call it or where you find it. In our tradition of Catholicism, they symbolize it as a bird so it’s a thing that can fly anywhere. It’s a free thing. It’s not something that you can tie down with rules and regulations or hide behind golden cupboards.
Do you still identify as a Catholic religiously?
I don’t know how to answer that because I identify as a number of things. I don’t put one thing on it. I just identify as me, really.
Is there anyone in today’s contemporary musical scene that you enjoy?
Amy Winehouse I love, and Lily Allen. I like [artists] like 50 Cent and all that. I like the sound of his voice. I don’t like that he would vote for George Bush, though.
You were a pioneer for the clean-shaven-head look for women in the mainstream media. Were you excited when Britney Spears shaved her head?
Well I thought to myself, ‘I think she must have been listening to my records.’ I wouldn’t be surprised.
As a mother, what do you try to instill in your kids?
I don’t deliberately instill anything because I don’t feel that I have the right to project my beliefs onto them.
What else do you wish to accomplish in your personal and professional life?
In my personal life, I suppose, just to settle my family well, which I have. And eventually move in with my boyfriend and his children, and have a nice big house with loads of f***ing land around it. [Laughs] And have a lot of sex with my hairy boyfriend. He’s a big, hairy ride, as we say in Ireland.
