Sinead O’Connor sent texts ‘laden with despair’ to Bob Geldof in weeks before her death
Sinead O’Connor sent text messages “laden with desperation, despair and sorrow” to Bob Geldof in the weeks before her death, The Boomtown Rats frontman has told a festival crowd.
He dedicated the band’s performance at Cavan Calling in Ireland to O’Connor, who died at her home in southeast London last week, aged 56.
Sinead O Connor shot to fame with her 1990 song Nothing Compares 2 U
As a fellow Irish singer, Geldof, 71, said he grew up with her family and lived just “down the road” from her.
He told the crowd: “Many, many times Sinead was full of a terrible loneliness and a terrible despair. She was a very good friend of mine. We are talking right up to a couple of weeks ago.
“Some of the texts were laden with desperation and despair and sorrow and some were ecstatically happy. And she was like that.”
Best known for her 1990 song Nothing Compares 2 U, O’Connor was known for her outspoken views on subjects such as religion, war and feminism.
She infamously tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live in 1992 to protest against abuse in the Catholic Church.
Geldof said: “She tore up the picture of the Pope because she saw me tearing up a picture of John Travolta on Top Of The Pops.
“It was a little more extreme than tearing up f****** disco – tearing up the Vatican is a whole other thing – but more correct actually, I should’ve done it.”
Ahead of the Irish concert, Geldof told Aine Duffy, for Irish Web TV, that the band were “all very sad” following O’Connor’s death and would be playing some of their oldest tracks as O’Connor had been a “big Rats fan”, attending many of the band’s gigs as a young girl.
He said: “Sinead lived down the road from me and Gary, the guitar player in the band who died about six or seven months ago, we are quite literally down the road.
“So, we’ve known that girl most of her life, really. She was a big Rats fan… so, to be honest with you, that’s why we’re doing very early stuff and we dedicate this gig to her, it’s the only thing we can do as musicians.
“We were friends all the way through. She was signed to the same little record label we were signed to, by the same guy, had the same manager and stuff like that so there’s a big connection there.”
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O’Connor began playing on the streets of Dublin using a guitar given to her by a nun and released her debut album The Lion and the Cobra in 1987. Her last album – I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss – came out in 2014.
In 2021 O’Connor cancelled a number of gigs after announcing she was entering a one-year programme for trauma and addiction.
The following year her 17-year-old son Shane took his own life.
Geldof, who has been in the public eye since The Boomtown Rats formed in the mid-70s, has also experienced tragedy in his life, with the death of his ex-wife Paula Yates from a heroin overdose in 2000 echoed 14 years later by the death of his 25-year-old daughter Peaches.
Entertainment
P Diddy: Rapper Sean Combs says video of him assaulting singer Cassie is ‘inexcusable’
Sean “Diddy” Combs has said CCTV footage showing him attacking singer Cassie in a hotel hallway in 2016 is “inexcusable” and that he is “disgusted”.
Warning: This story includes images readers may find distressing
“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” the rapper said in a video on Instagram.
“I was f***** up – I mean I hit rock bottom – but l make no excuses. My behaviour on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.
“I went and I sought out professional help. I got into going to therapy, going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I’m so sorry. But I’m committed to be a better man each and every day. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m truly sorry.”
Pic: CNN via AP
Pic: CNN via AP
The 54-year-old, whose homes in Los Angeles and Miami were raided by Homeland Security Investigations agents in March, has faced a series of public allegations of physical and sexual violence.
Footage obtained by CNN this week shows Combs – also known as P Diddy and Puff Daddy – wearing only a white towel as he punches and kicks Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway on 5 March 2016.
The footage also shows Combs shoving and dragging Cassie and throwing a vase in her direction.
Pic: CNN via AP
Cassie, an R&B singer whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, was his protege and girlfriend at the time.
The 37-year-old sued Combs in November with the lawsuit accusing him of rape and violent behaviour during their decade-long relationship.
The suit was settled the next day, but it lead to intense scrutiny of Combs, who has since been named as a defendant in several sexual abuse lawsuits, along with a federal criminal sex-trafficking investigation that led authorities to the raid in March.
Sean Combs and Cassie in 2017. Pic: PA
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Diddy’s homes raided
He denied the allegations in the lawsuits, but neither he nor his representatives had responded to the newly emerged video until Sunday.
After the footage emerged, Douglas H Wigdor, lawyer for Ms Ventura, said in a statement in response: “The gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behaviour of Mr Combs.
“Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light.”
Combs’ Instagram apology is the hip-hop mogul’s most direct response after six months of allegations that have threatened his reputation and career.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. Pic: AP
Previous statements have been released through his lawyers.
The security camera video, dated 5 March 2016, closely resembles the description of an incident at an InterContinental Hotel in the Century City area of Los Angeles described in Ms Ventura’s November lawsuit.
The suit alleges that Combs paid the hotel $50,000 (around £39,000) for the security video immediately after the incident.
Neither he or his representatives have addressed that specific allegation.
CNN did not say how it obtained the footage.
Combs is not in danger of being criminally prosecuted for the beating.
The statutes of limitations for the assault and battery charges he would be likely to face expired years ago.
Entertainment
Strictly Come Dancing star Giovanni Pernice denies claims of ‘abusive or threatening behaviour’ on show
Strictly Come Dancing star Giovanni Pernice has rejected allegations that he displayed “abusive or threatening behaviour” while working as a professional dancer on the show.
The 33-year-old Italian dancer said he was “surprised” amid reports the BBC is looking into complaints about his conduct.
A legal firm acting on behalf of the complainants said the broadcaster is “evidence gathering” – but the BBC has not confirmed that any probe has been launched.
In the statement shared on Instagram, Pernice wrote: “To my dear fans, you will be as surprised as I am that allegations have been made about my dance teaching methods in the media this week.
“Of course, I reject any suggestion of abusive or threatening behaviour, and I look forward to clearing my name.”
He added: “Those who have followed my journey on Strictly Come Dancing over the last decade will know that I am passionate and competitive.
“No one is more ambitious for my dance partners than me.
“I have always striven to help them be the very best dancers they can be.
“This has always come from a place of love and wanting to win – for me and my dance partners.”
Pernice signed off the message by writing: “Thank you all once again for your continued love and support! Giovanni.”
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A statement from law firm Carter-Ruck to the PA news agency said: “There have been numerous serious complaints made to the BBC who are now in the process of evidence gathering.
“As it is still an ongoing matter no further comment can be made at this stage.”
The Sun, which first reported suggestions that an investigation was underway, also claimed Pernice had quit the show.
Neither the BBC nor Pernice has confirmed his departure.
Sicily-born Pernice has been on the BBC One celebrity dancing show since 2015.
In 2021, he lifted the Strictly glitterball trophy for the first time alongside EastEnders star Rose Ayling-Ellis, who was the first deaf contestant to win. He had appeared in three show finals previously.
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
He also holds the Guinness World Record for most jive kick and flicks in 30 seconds, which he achieved on the BBC’s Strictly It Takes Two show in 2016.
The BBC was approached by Sky News but declined to comment.
Entertainment
Sarah Harding breast cancer research project is successfully identifying at-risk young women
A groundbreaking breast cancer research project launched in memory of the late Girls Aloud singer Sarah Harding is already successfully identifying young women at increased risk of getting the disease.
The BCAN-RAY (Breast Cancer Risk Assessment in Young Women) was launched a year ago in the singer’s name after she died from the disease in 2021 at the age of 39.
While she was having treatment, the star said she was “really keen” for more research into why young women are being diagnosed without a family history of the disease.
One of the singer’s final hopes was to find ways of spotting the disease early when it’s easier to treat.
The BCAN-RAY is one of the only projects in the world trying to identify which women in their 30s are most at risk.
About 2,300 women under 40 are diagnosed with the disease each year in the UK, according to Breast Cancer Now.
The two-year study is using money from Cancer Research UK, the Christie Charity, and the Sarah Harding Breast Cancer Appeal – backed by her family and former bandmates.
It looks at risk factors most commonly found in young women with the disease and will form a model to identify them in future.
Read more:
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New cancer treatment gives hope as diagnoses rise
Girls Aloud kick off reunion tour dedicated to Sarah Harding
Anna Housley, 39, from Hale, Greater Manchester, is one of the women taking part in the trial. After being tested last year the mother of two was surprised to find she’s at increased risk.
With no history of the disease in her family, she told Sky News: “I’m really grateful that I have been found because now I know that I’m going to be looked after and I can be screened.”
Keep up with all the latest news from the UK and around the world by following Sky News
Speaking about the work of Harding, she said: “All I can say really is thanks to her for being such a brave advocate to young women.”
The new information means she’s now eligible for annual mammograms and medication should she want it.
It’s hoped all women will eventually be able to have a risk assessment when they reach 30.
Girls Aloud kicked off a reunion tour on Saturday dedicated to the late bandmate. Pic: David Fisher/Shutterstock
A thousand women in the Greater Manchester area will take part, including 250 with breast cancer who don’t have a family history of the disease.
Saliva samples will hopefully help experts identify certain types and patterns of genes that could raise a woman’s risk.
These will be considered with factors such as period timing, breast tissue density, alcohol consumption and use of the pill.
Harding’s consultant Dr Sacha Howell from Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust, who is leading the study, said of the singer: “I think she’d be absolutely thrilled that she was part of this and her legacy is that we will be helping more and more young women like her.
“But what we’re all hoping is that by detecting those cancers earlier, they won’t unfortunately have that end result that Sarah did, which was to pass away with the disease.”
Harding’s legacy won’t just be her successful music career, it will also be her work in raising awareness around breast cancer and potentially giving many more women in their 30s a future.
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