Sinéad O’Connor didn't do "normal." That's just the truth of it. Whether she was ripping up a photo of the Pope on Saturday Night Live or converting to Islam, she lived her life at a volume most of us can’t even imagine. And honestly, her romantic life was just as loud, just as messy, and just as deeply misunderstood.
When people search for Sinead O'Connor husband, they usually expect a single name. Instead, they find a revolving door of four different marriages. Some lasted years. One famously lasted about as long as a heavy cold.
But to understand the men who shared her life, you have to understand the woman. She wasn't just looking for a partner; she was looking for a harbor. Most of the time, the sea was just too rough.
The Producer and the First Chapter: John Reynolds
Sinéad’s first marriage was arguably her most stable, at least professionally. In 1989, she married John Reynolds. He wasn't just her husband; he was the drummer and producer who helped shape the sound that made her a global icon.
They had a son together, Jake, born in 1987.
By 1991, the marriage was over. Yet, unlike the fire and brimstone of her later breakups, this one didn’t result in a total blackout. Reynolds stayed in her inner circle for decades. He produced several of her albums and even toured with her as late as 2013. It’s rare in the celeb world to see an "ex" stay that essential to a person's craft, but John was the foundation she kept returning to.
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The Secret Wedding: Nick Sommerlad
Fast forward a decade. After a very public and bruising custody battle with journalist John Waters (the father of her daughter, Roisin), Sinéad shocked everyone by marrying another British journalist, Nick Sommerlad, in 2001.
It was secretive. It was fast.
Sommerlad was a relative of the Swedish royal family, which added a strange "fairytale" layer to the whole thing. But the reality was far from a Disney movie. They met while he was working for the Press Association in Dublin. They married in July and by the following summer, the wheels had completely fallen off. They officially divorced in 2004.
The pattern was starting to emerge: Sinéad would fall hard and fast, driven by a desperate need for connection, only to realize that the day-to-day reality of being "Mrs. Someone" felt like a cage.
Music and Marriage: Steve Cooney
In 2010, Sinéad turned back to what she knew best: the music scene. She married Steve Cooney, a legendary guitarist who had been a longtime friend and a member of her backing band.
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This one felt right to a lot of fans. Cooney was a "musician's musician"—talented, steady, and someone who already knew the chaotic rhythm of her life.
It didn't matter. They split after eight months.
Sinéad was heartbreakingly honest about it. She basically blamed herself, saying Steve was "lovely" and that the failure was on her. When you’re dealing with the level of trauma and mental health struggles she carried, even a "perfect" partner can't always bridge the gap.
The 16-Day Las Vegas Whirlwind: Barry Herridge
If you remember one Sinead O'Connor husband story, it’s probably this one. It’s the one that the tabloids feasted on.
In 2011, Sinéad posted an "application" on her blog looking for a man. It was part-joke, part-cry for help. Enter Barry Herridge, an Irish therapist. They married in Las Vegas in the back of a pink Cadillac on her 45th birthday.
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The timeline of the disaster:
- Day 1: They get married in Vegas.
- Hours later: They go on a "wild ride" looking for drugs (by Sinéad's own admission) because she wanted to have a "real" Vegas experience.
- Day 7: They effectively stop living together.
- Day 16: She announces the marriage is over.
She later said that the marriage was "kyboshed" by the behavior of people in Barry’s life who didn't want him with her. She felt like she was protecting him by leaving. "He was too nice to do it," she said. Surprisingly, they didn't just walk away. They spent years in a "will-they-won't-they" cycle, occasionally reuniting as "boyfriend and girlfriend" without ever quite figuring out how to be husband and wife.
Why the Marriages Matter
It’s easy to look at a list of four marriages and laugh. People did. They called her "crazy" or "unstable." But if you look closer, you see a woman who was intensely lonely and incredibly brave. She wasn't afraid to try for love, even when she knew her own mind was a battlefield.
The Fathers Who Weren't Husbands
We can't talk about her partners without mentioning the men she didn't marry but had children with.
- John Waters: An Irish columnist. Their custody battle over Roisin was legendary and painful.
- Donal Lunny: A folk musician. He was the father of her son, Shane. Shane's death in 2022 was the blow Sinéad never recovered from.
- Frank Bonadio: The father of her youngest, Yeshua.
Actionable Insights: Learning from Sinéad's Journey
Looking back at the complicated history of a Sinead O'Connor husband or partner isn't just about celebrity gossip. It offers a few heavy-hitting lessons on the intersection of fame, trauma, and relationships:
- The "Work" Connection: Notice how many of her partners were musicians or journalists? We tend to marry people who understand our "language." For Sinéad, music was her first language.
- Friendship as a Buffer: Her most successful relationship was her first, with John Reynolds, specifically because it transitioned into a lifelong friendship.
- The Trap of the "Save Me" Romance: Her later marriages often seemed like attempts to find a stabilizer for her mental health. It rarely works. A partner can be a support, but they can't be a cure.
- Radical Honesty: Sinéad never hid her mess. While the world mocked her 16-day marriage, she was the first one to say, "Yeah, that was a mistake." There is power in owning your chaos.
To truly understand Sinéad O'Connor, you have to stop looking for a "happily ever after." She was a woman of "happily right now" and "painfully tomorrow." Her husbands were just men caught in the wake of a magnificent, tragic, and utterly unique storm.
If you want to honor her legacy, don't just count the divorces. Listen to the music she made while those men were in the room. That's where the real story lives.