On Monday, USA Today reported that according to police in the Chicago area, singer Sinead O'Connor is missing after going on a bike ride Sunday evening. Per USA Today, Sgt. Michael Robinson of Wilmette, Illinois sent out "a check-for-well-being alert" for the 49-year-old "Nothing Compares 2 U" artist. Apparently, she went for a bike ride in the Chicago suburb on Sunday at 6 a.m. and never returned. According to Robinson's alert, an anonymous caller phoned in expressing concern for O'Connor's well being. Update: According to the Associated Press, Chicago area police say that O'Connor has been found and is safe.
Earlier: Bustle has reached out to a rep for O'Connor, but has not yet received a response.
According to TMZ, O'Connor was riding a Raleigh motorized bicycle with a pink basket and was seen wearing a black parka, black leather pants, and a sweatshirt with the word "Ireland" on the back. TMZ also reports that the police are classifying O'Connor as "missing suicidal."
Despite not being seen since Sunday at 6 a.m., O'Connor posted to her Facebook page on Sunday at 9:12 a.m. Her message was to her oldest son, Jake, asking him to take custody of her third child, Shane. It reads:
Jake, kindly go to the court on Tuesday and take custody your brother from Tusla. My lawyer will be making the illegal way yourself and Donal got him into Tusla (lying to the cops etc) known to the judge. Expect to be in trouble. In fact, you'd best bring a lawyer of your own. And do not abandon your brother or any other of my babies again. What you have done to your brother and your mother is LITERALLY criminal.
For reference, Tusla is a child and family agency located in Ireland. O'Connor mentioned Tusla before in a December 2015 Facebook post, where she wrote, "Today I get detained against my will under the mental health act by St Patrick's Hospital, and Tusla because I refused to be subjected to the humiliation of 'supervised access', as if I were ever a harm to my child."
On Saturday, she also posted on Facebook that she would soon be heading down South. "Heading Down South for several weeks now. Hoping to begin 'Piss Where You Sit' protests in North Carolina. Irish style ; )"
For those unaware, the singer has a history with mental illness and has been very open about her battle with depression. In 2015, O'Connor wrote a worrisome Facebook post (via People) stating, "I have taken an overdose," she wrote.
There is no other way to get respect. I am not at home, I'm at a hotel, somewhere in Ireland, under another name If I wasn't posting this, my kids and family wouldn't even find out. Was dead for another fortnight since none of them bother their hole with me for a minute. I could have been dead here for weeks already and they'd never have known.
Soon after, Entertainment Tonight reported that O'Connor was found "safe and sound," but was placed on suicide watch.
In 2014, after the death of Robin Williams, O'Connor reflected on mental illness with Sky's Entertainment Week (via The Guardian) and said, "When you admit that you are anything that could be mistakenly, or otherwise, perceived as 'mentally ill' you know that you are going to get treated like dirt so you don’t go tell anybody and that’s why people die."
At this time, USA Today reports that the police have no further information about O'Connor or her whereabouts.
