Sinéad O'Connor Was Once Accused of Child-Trafficking Because of Kids' Different Last Names, Joked 'I Was a Bit of a Slut'

Mar. 15, 2025

Sinéad O’Connor.Photo:Michel Linssen/Redferns

Michel Linssen/Redferns

Sinéad O’Connor’s sense of humor once got her out of a tricky situation involving customs.

In her 2021 memoirRememberings,the late singerwrote about an incident that involved her children at German customs and how she made light of it.

“I did have quite a funny time on tour a number of years ago when I had to explain to a German customs man calling from the Munich airport why my four children had four different surnames,” O’Connor, whodied in 2023 at 56, wrote.

O’Connor—whose children areJake Reynolds, Roisin Waters,Shane O’Connor (who died in 2022)and Yeshua Bonadio — said that the man was concerned that she was child trafficking.

Sinéad O’Connor with sons Shane O’Conor and and Yeshua Bonadio in 2012.WENN Rights Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

WENN Rights Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

The “Nothing Compares 2 U” singer said it took 20 minutes to explain everything to the customs agent.

“Nothing made sense to him until I said, ‘Look, I was a bit of a slut,’ " she continued. “And then he said, ‘Oh, OK.’ And that was that. But I was joking.” O’Connor had beenmarried four times throughout her life, having a child with each of her husbands.

O’Connor, whospoke about the exploitations of musicians and their catalog,had left specific instructions for her kidsahead of her death.

Never miss a story — sign up forPEOPLE’s free daily newsletterto stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

“See, when the artists are dead, they’re much more valuable than when they’re alive.Tupachas released way more albums since he died than he ever did alive, so it’s kind of gross what record companies do,“she told PEOPLE exclusively in 2021.

The singer continued, “That’s why I’ve always instructed my children since they were very small, ‘If your mother drops dead tomorrow, before you called 911, call my accountant and make sure the record companies don’t start releasing my records and not telling you where the money is.’ "

“One of the things that’s a great bugbear with me, I get very angry when I think of it, is the fact that they’re raping his vault,” she added, explaining how thoughshe wasn’t a fan of the late artist Prince after a strange encounter, she sympathized with him when record companies profited off his music after he died.

Sinéad O’Connor and son Jake Reynolds in 1991.Dennis Stone/Shutterstock

Dennis Stone/Shutterstock

“All musicians, we have songs that we really are embarrassed about that are crap. We don’t want anyone hearing them,” O’Connor said.

“Now this is a man who released every song he ever recorded, so if he went to the trouble of building a vault, which is a pretty strong thing to do, that means he really did not want these songs released. And I can’t stand that people are, as I put it, raping the vault.”

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

O’Connor, who left her children an estate of $1.75 million, had also encouraged her children to “milk” her fortune “for what it’s worth.”

“I direct that after my death, and at the discretion of any of my children who are then over 18, my albums are to be released to ‘milk it for what it’s worth,’ " she wrote in the 2013 document released in January 2025, as perThe Sun.

source: people.com