Singer-songwriter Sinead O’Connor recently opened up about her experiences with mental health in an interview broadcast on American television.

In recent days, the Irish-born star appeared on Dr Phil to discuss how having a radical hysterectomy in 2015 had affected her mental health.

The 50-year-old singer shared intimate details about experiencing suicidal thoughts, admitting to the popular TV psychologist that she had attempted to take her own life as many as seven times in a single year.

She described how her hysterectomy had flung her into “surgical menopause” and shook up her hormones and emotions.

“I was told to leave the hospital two days after the surgery with Tylenol and no hormone replacements and no guidance as to what might happen to me,” she said.

“So hormones were everywhere and I became very suicidal.”

The singer-songwriter also opened up about her family life, claiming to have suffered abuse as a child at the hands of her mother.

Speaking shortly after the interview, celebrity psychologist Dr Phil said that Ms O’Connor’s main motive for appearing on the show was to raise awareness of mental health.

He said: “She really has had a difficult time, and she said, ‘Look, I’m in trouble. I need help.’ And she called. She said, ‘I want to de-stigmatise mental illness; I clearly have a problem… Too many musicians are dying. I want to use my life, be a teaching tool. I’m willing to sit down and talk.’”