Where Have You Gone, Sinead O’Connor?

Where Have You Gone, Sinead O'Connor? I just stumbled on last year's powerful documentary, Nothing Compares, about the surprising rise and sudden fall of Irish singer Sinead O'Connor. I was always a fan of her music, but was only vaguely aware of the controversies that began to swirl madly around her when she publicly questioned blind American patriotism during the Gulf War and later very publicly -- and ahead of her time -- ripped up a photo of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live to protest the Catholic Church coverup of priests' sexual assaults on children. Sinead could have learned from John Lennon how the angry U.S. media beast can quickly tear apart the most beloved, but outspoken, pop stars.

Anyway, I urge you all to watch this riveting movie (now streaming on Showtime), particularly if you're a fan of Sinead O'Connor's music. She was -- and is -- a fearless Irish woman, the saints preserve her. Here's a snippet of what she has to say today, looking back at the the furor around her:

"They all thought I should be made a mockery of and I'd thrown my career down the drain. I never set out to be a pop star, so I never threw away a career I wanted. I didn't regret it -- it was the proudest thing I'd ever done as an artist.

"They broke my heart and tried to kill me. But I didn't die. They tried to bury me. They didn't realize I was a seed."