Russell Crowe pays tribute to his “hero” Sinéad O’Connor
Following the death of Irish singer Sinéad O’Connor, Australian actor Russell Crowe, known for his role in Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, has paid tribute to the musician, who he called his “hero”.
On Twitter, Crowe wrote, “Last year, working in Ireland, having a pint in the cold outside a Dalkey pub with some new friends, a woman with purpose strode past us. Puffy Parker zipped to the nape and her bowed head covered in a scarf.”
“One of my new friends muttered an exclamation, jumped up and pursued the woman,” Crowe went on. “Thirty metres down the road the friend and the woman embraced and he waived me over. There under streetlights with mist on my breath, I met Sinéad. She looked in my eyes, and uttered with disarming softness ‘Oh, it’s you, Russell’.”
The story continued: “She came with us back to the table and sat in the cold and ordered a hot tea. In a conversation without fences, we roamed through the recent Dublin heatwave, local politics, American politics, the ongoing fight for indigenous recognition in many places, but particularly in Australia, her warm memory of New Zealand, faith, music, movies and her brother the writer.”
Crowe said that he was thankful that the meeting with O’Connor gave him a chance to tell her his thoughts on her. “I had the opportunity to tell her she was a hero of mine,” he said.
The actor signed off, “When her second cup was taking on the night air, she rose, embraced us all and strode away into the fog-dimmed streetlights. We sat there the four of us and variously expressed the same thing. What an amazing woman. Peace be with your courageous heart Sinéad.”
O’Connor passed away at the age of 56, although the cause of her death is yet to be announced. She was best known for covering Prince’s song ‘Nothing Compares 2 U’.
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