Sinead O'Connor splits from husband

Sinead O'Connor has split from her husband 16 days after they got married in a "drive-thru wedding chapel" in Las Vegas.

The 45-year-old singer confirmed the break-up of her marriage to therapist Barry Herridge, who is seven years her junior, in a blog post published on her website last night.

She said she and Mr Herridge had lived together for just seven days after their marriage and had split on Christmas Eve. She blamed “intense pressure” put on the couple in the immediate aftermath of the wedding.

In a long post on her website, Ms O’Connor said that within hours of the ceremony, which saw the couple exchange their vows in a pink Cadillac, it had become apparent that “if he were to stay with me he would be losing too much to bear”. She said she realised that “being with me was not going to serve him positively, career wise or any other wise".

She said she and Mr Herridge were parting on good terms. “We haven't been awful to each other. So while I feel sad for my husband, and sad to be the cause of sorrow to yet another poor man, I'm also happy that I know we weren't horrible to each other and he is better off free. And that I can be me. And that's a freedom I can't give up for anyone or anything. Neither should my husband or anyone else.”

She expressed sorrow that she was “not a more regular woman” and said she believed “though it is painful to admit, we made a mistake rushing into getting married”.

Ms O’Connor wrote that the pair had not been “prepared for the consequences on my husband's life and the lives of those close to him.”

She ended the blog post by saying she would not “under any circumstances ever have any further comments to make on this matter than those I write here this evening. Either privately or publicly.”

The mother-of-four’s first marriage was to music producer John Reynolds, who co-produced several of her albums. Her second husband was journalist Nicholas Sommerlad who she married in 2002..She split from her third husband, Steve Cooney, in March, after eight months.

After that split she was open about looking for a partner and launched a campaign to find love online via Twitter. She also travelled to this year's Lisdoonvarna matchmaking festival in Co Clare and issued a plea for love on the Late Late Show .

Mr Herridge replied to one of her online ads and that time she said he had “sent me this wonderful email, which just took my heart away. It had to be him."