A rockstar mom. She’s one of the most iconic artists of the 90s, and Sinead O’Connor’s kids got all the love from their mother.
Born on December 8, 1966, Sinéad Marie Bernadette O’Connor—later to become Shuhada’ Sadaqat when she converted to Islam in 2018—released her debut album in 1987, The Lion and The Cobra. It charted internationally and was followed by her second album I Do Not Want What I Haven’t Got would become her biggest success with the single ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’, written by Prince. O’Connor (she would maintain this as her stage name) would go on to make 10 studio albums across her career, the last of which was released in 2014 titled I’m Not Bossy, I’m The Boss.
The musician died on July 26, 2023. The Irish Times was the first outlet to report that O’Connor had passed, with a statement from her family that read: “It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinéad. Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time.”
In her memoir Rememberings, she expressed unconditional love for her little ones. “I have four children by four different fathers, only one of whom I married, and I married three other men, none of whom are the fathers of my children,” she wrote. “People always want to know why I have four children with four different men. I tell them it just happened that way. It wasn’t something I planned, but I didn’t feel like I had to get married for the sake of having a child.”
She then called her children “unusual, intelligent, loving, compassionate, spiritually advanced, funny, worthwhile, hard-working human beings,” and she “couldn’t be prouder” of them.
If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, help is available. Call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free and confidential counseling.
So who are Sinead O’Connor’s kids? Read more to find out.
Jake Reynolds
Born: 1987
Jake Reynolds is Sinead O’Connor’s first child with music producer John Reynolds. He was born in 1987 just a Couple of weeks before her debut album. He works in Dublin as a chef.
Jake has two kids and O’Connor gushed about her first time as a grandmother. She posted a photo on Facebook, “It’s a boy,” alongside the caption: “Don’t mess with abuelita.”
“Having Jake when I was very young had benefits, especially in that we were the best of friends. As he grew older, we became closer. We were often more like friends than mother and son, which I supposed is not necessarily always a good thing, but we had a very beautiful Relationship,” she wrote in her memoir.
Roisin Waters
Born: 1995
Roisin Waters is Sinéad O’Connor’s second child and only daughter with ex-boyfriend and journalist John Waters. She went through a custody battle with Waters after she attempted suicide.
Though she has a knack for singing, Waters works as a pastry chef. “I used to be frightened of her getting into the music business because I thought they would treat her like they treat me,” she explained to People. “I didn’t want that.”
Shane Lunny
Born: 2004
Died: 2021
Shane Lunny was Sinéad O’Connor’s third child and second son. He was born to O’Connor and Irish musician Donal Lunny.
In her memoir, she called him “the child who is most like me, I believe, to look at and by nature.” In January 2022, O’Connor’s 17-year-old son (custody of whom she’d lost in 2013) had gone missing after being on suicide watch at Tallaght Hospital. His body was recovered several days later. “My beautiful son, Nevi’im Nesta Ali Shane O’Connor, the very light of my life, decided to end his earthly struggle today and is now with God,” O’Connor wrote on social media in tribute to him at the time. “May he rest in peace and may no one follow his example. My baby. I love you so much. Please be at peace.”
A week after Shane was found dead, O’Connor shared a troubling series of tweets that suggested she was planning on taking her own life. “I’ve decided to follow my son. There is no point living without him. Everything I touch, I ruin. I only stayed for him. And now he’s gone,” she wrote on an unverified Twitter account linked to her official account.
An hour later, she revealed she had admitted herself to hospital. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I am with cops now on way to hospital. I’m sorry I upset everyone,” she posted, adding: “I am lost without my kid and I hate myself. Hospital will help a while. But I’m going to find Shane. This is just a delay.”
Days before her death, the “Drink Before War” singer posted a tribute to her late son. “Been living as undead night creature since,” his death, she wrote on Twitter. “He was the love of my life, the lamp of my soul. We were one soul in two halves. He was the only person who ever loved me unconditionally. I am lost in the bardo without him.” She also posted the song “Chenrezi” in tribute, writing, “For all mothers of Suicided children. Great Tibetan Compassion Mantra”
If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, help is available. Call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free and confidential counseling.
Yeshua Bonadio
Born: 2006
Yeshua Bonadio is Sinéad O’Connor’s fourth son with Frank Bonadio. In an interview with People, she marveled over her son’s talents calling him an “incredible musician … [He] plays piano and everything incredibly and an incredible singing voice.”
She continued, “He’s half American, so he’s interested in going to college in America,” she said at the time. “His father is a scientist. So we’ll see. But I would not be surprised if he got into music, because he likes money.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, help is available. Call the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free and confidential counseling.
Blessed with a singular voice and a fiery temperament, Sinéad O’Connor
rose to massive fame in the late 1980s and 1990s with a string of gold records. By the time she was twenty, she was world-famous—living a rock star life out loud. From her trademark shaved head to her 1992 appearance on Saturday Night Live when she tore up Pope John Paul II’s photograph, Sinéad has fascinated and outraged millions. In Rememberings
, O’Connor recounts her painful tale of growing up in Dublin in a dysfunctional, abusive household. Inspired by a brother’s Bob Dylan records, she escaped into music. She relates her early forays with local Irish bands; we see Sinéad completing her first album while eight months pregnant, hanging with Rastas in the East Village, and soaring to unimaginable popularity with her cover of Prince’s “Nothing Compares 2U.”
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