Aisling Bea has remembered the ‘original truth sayer’ Sinead O’Connor (Picture: Getty/ PA)
Aisling Bea has paid tribute to fellow Irish performer Sinéad O’Connor, recognising the singer for standing up for her beliefs throughout her career.
On Wednesday evening, the singer’s family confirmed that she had died aged 56, with tributes quickly pouring in with fans and famous faces alike.
Now comedian and actress Aisling, 39, has shared how ‘desperately sad’ the loss is for both ‘music and Ireland’.
Sharing a lengthy post on social media, Aisling reflected on time they spent together a few years ago, as well as the trailblazing actions of the singer.
‘I did the Late Late Show with her a few years ago, a classic Irish lineup of all sorts of us, but I’d like to think including some women making their own paths in their worlds and not ones likely to be told to be quiet,’ she wrote on Instagram.
‘She was an absolute hero of mine and one of the few people I’ve ever been star struck by. I think she could tell because I became a chatty mess.
‘She was dry and funny and kind and sharp and incredibly gentle.’
She also pointed to the documentary about O’Connor’s life, Nothing Compares, writing that it was both inspiring and ‘desperately sad’.
‘Not just because of what she went through but because of how she was treated, often by her own,’ she continued.
‘She was vilified, humiliated at times, metaphorically crucified when alone and in her twenties.
The singer’s family announced her death aged 56 this week (Picture:Tim Mosenfelder/Getty Images)
‘Everything she stood up for and against then, including racism in the music industry, has been proven to have been needed and right.’
As Aisling explained, O’Connor ‘wasn’t just trying to look out for herself’.
‘She was the original truth sayer who wouldn’t go easy into the night.
‘The original “difficult” woman who didn’t make it easy.
‘Because easy wasn’t the right thing to do and it wasn’t the truth. Gone too soon. Nothing compares to you.’
Many fans have also reflected on O’Connor’s famous moments of activism in the wake of her death, including the moment she caused significant backlash after ripping up a photo of the Pope while appearing on Saturday Night Live in 1992.
At the time the singer wanted to protest against the Catholic Church’s sexual abuse of children and its continued cover-up, but her action saw her banned from the show and slammed by both members of the public and other performers, including Madonna.
However, tributes for the singer have shared their admiration at her ‘brave’ actions, with one person sharing on social media that she had ‘used her art to shatter the silence and hypocrisy used to control generations of young Irish women like her’.
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‘She wouldn’t go easy into the night.’
