O'Connor begs end to media abuse

O'Connor admitted she had been controversial at times

Irish singer Sinead O'Connor has taken out an advert urging the media to leave her alone after being criticised for proposing a "national delousing day".

In the full-page plea she says she has been the media's "whipping post" for 20 years: "If ye think I am so ridiculous why do ye give me any attention?"

It follows an article about O'Connor's "latest wacky" idea to rid the country of lice, which she discussed on radio.

She had been attacked for trying to do something "fun and helpful", she said.

If ye wrote about Bono like you wrote about me he'd kick your asses Sinead O'Connor

In the advert - printed in the Irish Examiner - O'Connor described being "consistently ridiculed, lashed and called mad" by strangers.

"It has taken a severe toll on my health and has had consequences for my life which have resulted in me being really fair game apparently for really an awful lot of people to really crush," she said.

"If ye all think I am such a crazy person why do ye use me to sell your papers?"

Since her 1990 hit Nothing Compares to You brought her international fame, O'Connor has often been in the media spotlight.

'Horrific treatment'

Now ordained a priest by a quasi-Catholic sect, the singer once said she was a lesbian, married a man shortly afterwards, and unleashed a flood of criticism when she ripped up a photo of the Pope on television.

When she refused to perform in the US if The Star Spangled Banner was played before her appearance, Frank Sinatra threatened to "kick her ass".

In the advert O'Connor admitted she was unconventional.

But added: "I don't see that what I have done deserves the type of horrific treatment of me by the media every time I set foot out to do anything.

"If ye wrote about Bono like you wrote about me he'd kick your asses."