Sinéad O’Connor 'Was Barely Able to Function' After Son Shane Took His Own Life: 'She Was a Shell of a Human Being'

Sinéad O’Connor's life was shattered by the death of her 19-year-old son, Shane Lunny, who tragically died by suicide in January 2022.

The "Nothing Compares 2 You" singer, who was a mother to four children, once referred to Shane in her 2021 memoir Rememberings as "the child who is most like me, I believe, to look at and by nature" and was never quite the same following his passing.

"Sinéad was barely able to function after that," a source explained of the artist's difficult journey through her grief. "She fell into the deepest of depressions and openly admitted she was a shell of a human being with little left to live for. She just wanted to be with Shane."

Late last month, it was confirmed O'Connor herself had passed away at 56 years old after years of battling mental health issues.

Her cause of death is yet to be released.

As OK! previously reported, O'Connor opened up on how she was coping with the loss in a Monday, July 17, message shared to her since-deleted Twitter account.

"Been living as undead night creature since," she said of her son's suicide. "He was the love of my life, the lamp of my soul. We were one soul in two halves. He was the only person who ever loved me unconditionally. I am lost in the bardo without him."

Only a few days prior, she confessed to looking "like s---" and not wanting to make a social media video. "But you know, the way your kid unfortunately passing away, it isn't good for one's body, or soul to be fair," she said.

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Shortly after her passing, an industry insider claimed, Sinéad had been "hanging on by a thread," noting that she needed "constant, immersive professional treatment."

"Her problems went too deep for her to handle them on her own," the insider added at the time.