Sinéad and Bipolar Disorder

Speaking of Sinéad O'Connor, she's making an appearance on Oprah today to discuss how she's suffered with bipolar disorder, which went undiagnosed until the age of 37 (she's 40 now). In one of her most famous (infamous) acts, she ripped up a picture of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live in 1992:

Because it airs live, Saturday Night Live is an open invitation for troublemakers. ... But by far the show's biggest controversy was in 1992, when Sinead O'Connor followed her performance by declaring "Fight the real enemy!" and proceeding to rip a picture of Pope John Paul II in two.

The File Room, an illustrated archive on censorship, describes it thusly:

Description of incident

October 3, 1992: Sinéad O'Connor appears as the musical guest on "Saturday Night Live." Toward the end of the show O'Connor performs a remarkable a capella version of the Bob Marley song "War," which Marley wrote using words from a speech given by Ethiopia's last emperor, Haile Selassie, who died in 1975. The song basically says war is an appropriate response for victims of racial injustice, child abuse and other types of cruelty. At the song's conclusion O'Connor held up an 8" x 10" color photo of Pope John Paul II, ripped it into pieces and said, "Fight the real enemy."

Exclusive: Sinéad O'Connor Reveals Her Struggle with Bipolar Disorder

On the The Oprah Winfrey Show,

Sinéad says she used to feel suicidal but medication has given her a new outlook on life. "Everything just became too much, and the best way I can describe it to you is you're so sad, just terribly sad, that you're like a bucket of water with holes in it. Every pore of you is crying and you don't even understand why or what," Sinéad says. "I actually kind of died and got born again as a result of taking the meds and having a chance to, you know, build a life."

Now, you might be asking yourself the question, are those tabloid rumors about another famous female pop star with a shaved head true? While it's highly unethical for a mental health professional to speculate about a celebrity's possible psychiatric disorder [see They tried to make me talk about rehab but I said ‘no, no, no’ by Dr. Petra for a good discussion], Sinéad O'Connor can identify with the party in question:

Sinéad says she feels sorry for the scrutiny today's pop stars like Britney Spears live with. [NOTE: as do I.] "I think it's terrible what the media are doing to her here," Sinéad says. "I feel so sorry for celebrities in this country. It's absolutely impossible to live a normal life being followed around, poor girl. We all mess up, don't we, as moms. We never always get it right."