"I'm fed up of being defined as the crazy person," says Sinead O'Connor. A month after speaking of suicidal thoughts in a Facebook video, O'Connor opens up about mental illness and her troubling childhood in an interview with Dr. Phil, set to air on his show Tuesday. A preview of the episode shows O'Connor nodding as Dr. Phil refers to her attempting suicide eight times in one year. At one point, he asks O'Connor what she loves about her mom, who died in a car crash when O'Connor was 19, per Rolling Stone. The singer replies, "that she's dead." O'Connor says her mom both physically and sexually abused her. "She ran a torture chamber. She was a person who took delight in hurting you," she says. "I became very suicidal and I was a basket case."
But "I'm changing my name," O'Connor adds in the preview. "Sinead O'Connor is gone. That person is gone." The preview also reveals the interview will touch upon O'Connor tearing up a picture of the pope during a now-famous appearance on Saturday Night Live and the challenges of her rise to fame with her version of "Nothing Compares 2 U," per Entertainment Weekly. While appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Wednesday, Dr. Phil explained O'Connor had reached out to him ahead of the interview. "She really has had a difficult time, and she said, 'Look, I'm in trouble. I need help,'" he says. "She said, 'I want to de-stigmatize mental illness; I clearly have a problem. … Too many musicians are dying. I want to use my life, be a teaching tool.'" (More Sinead O'Connor stories.)
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