Sinead O’Connor decided to become a healthcare assistant in the wake of the death of a close friend.
The 53-year-old singer is set to train in palliative care later this month and she admits the traumatic memory she has of her friend passing and how she handled it was the catalyst for her to change careers.
During an appearance on RTE Radio 1 programme ‘The Ryan Tubridy Show’, she said: "A huge impetus for me was one of my best friends in the world actually died about five years ago. He asked me one night would I sleep in the bed with him when he found out he was dying and I told him I would but in the end, I was too frightened and I didn’t.
"I felt from then I would never leave a person alone and I let my friend down very badly. I didn’t get into the bed with him because I was so frightened … of death and dying and of him dying."
The ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’ hitmaker decided that now was the right time to begin her training because she has no musical commitments for the next year due to the coronavirus pandemic shutting down live venues.
She explained: "I had a whole year of shows booked, but they all got pulled because of COVID, and I wanted to do this course for a few years, but I never could find time free from touring, so I’m making use of the fact that I’m unemployed for the year."
However, Sinead knows it will take longer than a year to complete her training but she excited to make the first step to getting her diploma.
She added: "Obviously it will take a few years, God knows you wouldn’t after one year be let loose on dying people. You would need a lot of training. I imagine it will be three or four years before I’m ready to do the work I want to do. Which is more or less being a death midwife.
"There’s a movement of these people called death midwives where they work with people who are frightened. The first step in becoming a death midwife is getting a diploma."