Understanding Bipolar Disorder

Sinéad O'Connor believes her bipolar disorder was caused by a number of outside pressures. "I don't think I was born with bipolar disorder—I believe it was created as a result of the violence I experienced," Sinéad says. But then her condition only worsened with pressure she felt as a pop singer. "It didn't really help in terms of being well or a stable person the fact that I really was getting kicked around, metaphorically speaking, by the media for years," she says. "It seemed every time I went to work, all I was getting told was what a dreadful, terrible person I was. And I couldn't really manage all of that on top of everything else."

Sinéad says she feels sorry for the scrutiny today's pop stars like Britney Spears live with. "I think it's terrible what the media are doing to her here," Sinéad says. "I feel so sorry for celebrities in this country [the United States]. 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."

The rebel rocker says she's resolved to let her tabloid persona "rest in peace," and though she had announced her retirement from music, Sinéad is on tour with a her album, Theology. "I'd actually really like to start with a clean slate without all that baggage and not be kicked around really, either," she says.