Sinéad O'Connor: 'If I Hadn't Found Music, I Would Be In Trouble' (VIDEO)

How Sinéad O'Connor Defines Her Religion

In 1992, Grammy winner Sinéad O'Connor sparked controversy during an appearance on "Saturday Night Live" when she tore apart a photo of Pope John Paul II. Today, the "Nothing Compares 2 U" singer tells "Oprah: Where Are They Now" how her experiences have shaped her spirituality journey.

"To me, music is the holy spirit," O'Connor says in the above video. "I was a person who was going to jail. I would steal … If I hadn't found music, I would be in trouble. And it wasn't open to me to be a priest because I was a girl -- that's the only other thing I would have wanted to do."

In the video, O'Connor shows how she focuses on the word "pray" during her performances to calm her nerves. "To me, prayer is actually very important," she says. "I'm not of any specific religion; I sort of believe everything and nothing."

"And I think faith comes from knowledge and experience," O'Connor says. "When you've had experience, you can dedicate yourself almost like a solider, and a solider sometimes has to do things that are unpleasant."

In the video below, OWN executive producers Jill Van Lokeren and Julie Simpson talk more about O'Connor on HuffPost Live, including what the crew saw when they met her four children.

"Oprah: Where Are They Now?" airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on OWN.

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