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The 2000s were a turbulent era for the singer. The Cranberries went on hiatus in 2003, allowing her to pursue solo projects, but she struggled with the haunting memories of her childhood. At her father’s funeral in 2011, she was forced to confront her abuser, who approached her to apologize—a moment she described as a nightmare made manifest. The subsequent end of her twenty-year marriage in 2014 pushed her to a breaking point. Her mental health struggles became public after an incident on a flight led to her arrest, revealing that she was suffering from bipolar disorder. She was candid about her “tortoise effect”—the instinct to hide under blankets and meditate to escape the noise of the world—and her habit of binge drinking to numb the pain of her memories.
Despite these shadows, the final chapter of her life showed signs of a creative resurgence. The Cranberries had reunited, and Dolores was making plans for the future. In January 2018, she was in London for a recording session, leaving upbeat voicemails for colleagues about new music and upcoming dinners. She sounded hopeful, singing snippets of songs into her phone. It was this contrast that made the news of her death on January 15, 2018, so shocking. Found unresponsive in her hotel bathtub, the coroner later ruled her death an accidental drowning due to alcohol intoxication. She was only forty-six years old.
