THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON)
April 16, 1999, Friday

Sinead O'Connor is to sue over 'custody battle libel'

By Tom Leonard, Media Correspondent

THE singer Sinead O'Connor said yesterday that she is to sue tabloid
newspapers for defaming her character and jeopardising her battle for
custody of her daughter.

O'Connor, 32, said she was incensed by suggestions that her performance on
stage at a Linda McCartney tribute concert at the Royal Albert Hall last
weekend could have any bearing on her fitness as a mother.

The outspoken artist is embroiled in a court battle with John Waters, an
Irish journalist, over their daughter Roisin, three.

She was accused in some newspapers of behaving bizarrely at the concert,
wandering on and off stage, interrupting other performers and generally
looking confused. There were suggestions that her behaviour would not help
her case in court.

O'Connor said: "My case is that even if I am a lunatic, which is debatable,
I'm not a bad mother.

"I do suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and I am emotionally
fragile. So what if I looked dazed and confused? Anyone who's going through
what I am would do."

She said she had behaved professionally on stage, singing two songs - one
of them about Diana, Princess of Wales. "I showed a sense of humour rather
than disrespect. We were having a fun day," she said.

O'Connor accused tabloid gossip columnists of having conducted a 12-year
witch-hunt because she refused to conform to the "quiet little woman" image
expected of female pop stars.

She said: "I don't take my clothes off and sing 'Ooh baby, baby'. I'm a
protest singer that has happened to slip into the mainstream."