<p class="ingestion featured-caption">Sinéad O'Connor's death at the age of 56 was confirmed on Wednesday.Yvonne Hemsey/Getty Images, Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images</p><ul class="summary-list"><li>Sinéad O'Connor experienced a huge backlash after ripping up a picture of the pope on "SNL" in 1992.</li><li>It wasn't the only time the outspoken singer used her platform to speak up for what she believed in.</li></ul><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/sinead-oconnor-wrote-about-grief-son-shane-suicide-before-death-2023-7">Sinéad O'Connor's</a> family confirmed on Wednesday that the Grammy Award-winning singer had died at age 56, in a statement provided to Irish news outlet RTE.</p><p>Since then, there have been outpourings of grief from the figureheads in the music industry and the media, with the likes of <a href="https://www.insider.com/russell-crowe-recalls-chance-encounter-with-sinad-oconnor-2023-7">Russell Crowe</a>, Cat Stevens, <a href="https://www.insider.com/sinead-oconnor-tribute-conor-mcgregor-2023-7">Conor McGregor</a>, and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar all penning tributes to the late singer. </p><p>However, as The Smiths frontman Morrissey pointed out in <a href="https://www.morrisseycentral.com/messagesfrommorrissey/you-know-i-couldn-t-last?mibextid=Zxz2cZ">his own tribute posted on his website,</a> O'Connor was met with a significant lack of support throughout her life for defying expectations of how a female pop star should behave, as she routinely used her platform to speak out about injustices.</p><p>In a defining career moment, O'Connor tore up a photo of Pope John Paul II during a performance on "Saturday Night Live" in 1992, as a means of protesting rampant sexual abuse in the Catholic Church.</p><p><a href="https://www.insider.com/sinead-oconnor-saturday-night-live-pope-picture-backlash-2023-7">The stunt sparked intense fierce criticism</a> at the time, with Catholic celebrities, including Joe Pesci and Madonna, speaking out against her actions.</p><p>However, <a href="https://www.insider.com/sinead-oconnor-snl-tearing-up-pope-photo-no-regrets-2021-5" rel>O'Connor later said she didn't regret doing it</a>. Instead, she wrote in her 2021 memoir "Rememberings" that it made her feel more free.</p><p>"The media was making me out to be crazy because I wasn't acting like a pop star was supposed to act," she <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/18/arts/music/sinead-oconnor-rememberings.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">told the New York Times</a>. "It seems to me that being a pop star is almost like being in a type of prison. You have to be a good girl."</p><p>Here are five other times the renowned singer stood up for what she believed in. </p>