How Sinéad O'Connor shut down child-trafficking accusations

Sinéad O'Connor once responded hilariously to child-trafficking accusations.

The late singer, who died in 2023, made some intriguing revelations in her 2021 memoir Rememberings—including how she once effortlessly shut down child-trafficking accusations.

"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 wrote in her book.

O'Connor—whose children are Jake Reynolds, Roisin Waters, late Shane O'Connor, and Yeshua Bonadio—elaborated that the officer was concerned that she was child trafficking.

"I was on the phone with him in my hotel, and my children were being brought to visit me by their male nanny, who also had a different surname," she further explained.

The late singer recalled in her book how the discussion went on for about 20 minutes as she insisted the kids were hers.

"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 married four times in her lifetime and had a child with each of her husbands.

The Nothing Compares 2 U singer also left an advice for her kids before her death at age 56.

"See, when the artists are dead, they're much more valuable than when they're alive. Tupac has 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 Magazine 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.'"

O'Connor also left her children an estate of $1.75 million and encouraged her children to "milk" her fortune "for what it’s worth."