MODEL MISERY
Controversial Sinead O’Connor waxwork AXED from Dublin Wax Museum after fan uproar as owner and family breaks silence
Punters had a lot to after the likeness was unveiled earlier this week
THE Wax Museum are set to dump a controversial new likeness of late singer Sinead O'Connor.
Owner Paddy Dunning has revealed the decision to following a global backlash to the waxwork which was publicly unveiled in yesterday, just a day before Sinead's first anniversary.
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Sinead's brother John O’Connor was one of the many people to criticise the waxwork as “hideous” and “inappropriate”, describing it as “between a mannequin and something out of the Thunderbirds”.
Revealing the decision, Paddy told The Irish Sun: "I'm just not with it. Unfortunately this likeness of Sinead was delivered to the Wax Museum yesterday morning and I didn't have time to review it.
"Sinead O'Connor was a personal friend of mine. I knew it wasn't right but I still had to go ahead with the launch because so many press and media were coming."
The museum owner revealed how he called a meeting of museum staff this morning, and then spoke to the model maker responsible, artist PJ Heraghty.
Read more on Sinead O'Connor
Paddy told us: "PJ has made some fantastic models for us. I know he
could do better."
However Paddy said the job of creating a new Sinead likeness might go elsewhere, after PJ's retirement yesterday.
Paddy added he didn't plan to melt down the Sinead waxwork.
He said "I think people will still want to see it, so we might keep it
somewhere."
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The reaction to the wax model has been strong, with one furious fan saying: "She looks like a freaking alien."
Another said: "Is that a character from Thunderbirds?"
Annie Lennox fights back tears during 'powerful' tribute performance to Sinead O'Connor and Shane MacGowan at Grammys-
The music icon legend sadly died last July aged 56.
Discussing the model of his sister on RTE's Liveline, John O'Connor said he was "shocked" after seeing images of the waxwork.
He said it resembled something "between a mannequin and something out of the Thunderbirds", and added that the model, which was supposed to represent Sinead in her early 20s, when she did Nothing compares 2 U, "was hideous".
''Hideous'
He said: "I just didn't think it looked like her at all. When I saw it yesterday I was shocked, I thought it looked like something between a mannequin and something out of the Thunderbirds.
"Sinead would have been very fond of looking well and she certainly did. If it was meant to be a representation of her in her early twenties when she did Nothing Compares 2 U, it just looked nothing like her. I thought it was hideous."
He added that if the piece was meant to honour Sinead’s memory, it was "inappropriate".
Paddy also appeared on Liveline and apologised to John for how it looked insisting he hadn't seen it before the launch.
'Deeply regret it'
He said: "Sinead was a friend of mine. My heart sunk a bit, we went ahead with the launch, I didn't sleep last night. I deeply regret it and I'm sending out my apologies. I had to take the decision to cancel the statue and we'll go again. We'll remodel but we'll have to do better."
John asked Paddy if he was "doing this to get publicity", to which Paddy replied: "Absolutely not."
The devastated brother said that the "hideous' waxwork reveal was "really bad timing", and that he struggled for sleep last night after seeing "an unfair and invalid representation" of his sister.
He added: "The world may have lost a star, and it did, but I lost my sister, and I accept that you lost a friend. I'm trying to be fair about this, but it just should not have been put there without checking with somebody."
Paddy said sorry for the display, telling John: "I understand and apologise for any hurt that might have been caused to anybody, and that's why we have made this decision."
Statue call
However, both John and Paddy backed the idea of a public statue being erected in Sinead's memory.
The Nothing Compares 2 U legend sadly died 18 months after beloved son Shane, 17, took his own life.
A week before her passing, the star said she had been “living as an undead night creature” since Shane’s suicide in January 2022.
Emotional Sinead added: “We were one soul in two halves. He was the only person who ever loved me unconditionally. I am lost in the bardo without him.”
And Sinead told how “losing a kid isn’t good for the soul” in a heartbreaking final video to fans posted days before her death.
SINEAD: I NEVER FEARED DEATH
By Ken Sweeney, Showbiz Editor
WHILE other superstars may have feared an assassin’s bullet after tearing up a picture of the Pope on stage, Sinead O’Connor never feared death.
The singer told the Irish Sun that touring in the ultra-conservative US after the 1992 Saturday Night Live incident didn’t phase her in the slightest.
We asked whether she feared an attack and she said: "Whatever happens happens, I don't give a f.
"It doesn't matter. What's God will is what will happen. Wherever that is, good or bad I will roll with that.
"I don't have anything to lose because what I have and have always had is faith in God.
"I am able for everybody and anything, nobody can do anything to me that hasn't happened already, that's why I don't give a s****."
The superstar was always an open and honest interviewee, on topics from sex to her body or otherworldly voice – or even Love Island’s Maura Higgins.
Sinead told us: "I told Maura I was jealous of her breasts, I said 'Jaysus you have the most perfect boobs, mine are completely f***ed'.
"Maura said nothing and just smiled politely.
“She seemed a bit cold to be out without her shirt on at this time of year. She seemed sweet. I have never seen Love Island."
Gorgeous Sinead spared herself any flattery on her own looks.She told
The Irish Sun: "I don't get paid to look good. I get paid to write songs and sing them. No one has ever disputed that in those departments I'm utterly glorious."
Speaking in documentary Sinead, friend and producer David Holmes also said he believed the singer had died of a “broken heart” after the death of Shane.
David, who spent five years working on an album with her, said: “Even though Sinead was this incredibly resilient survivor, I totally believe that people can die of a broken heart.”
Just weeks before her death, Sinead revealed plans to release her 11th album, No Veterans Die Alone, early in 2024.
In January, Southwark Coroners said no public inquest will take place as an autopsy found she “died of natural causes”.
'Beloved'
The Glenageary native burst onto the music scene in the 1980s, going on to release ten studio albums.
The music icon's family said they were "devastated" at the death of their "beloved Sinead" back in July.
READ MORE SUN STORIES
Her heartbroken family confirmed: "It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of our beloved Sinead.
"Her family and friends are devastated and have requested privacy at this very difficult time."
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