Sinead O’Connor decided to quit Twitter after she said she was “getting too much abuse”.

Sinead O’Connor, 44, follows the decision of Ashton Kutcher, who despite his 8.2 million followers, closed his account after tweeting his support for ousted US college football coach Joe Paterno, embroiled in a sex abuse scandal.

The singer blamed fans for taking her controversial sex stories “too seriously”, but credited the experience as “very interesting’.

Sinead O’Connor said: “I’ve stopped Twitter now because, although it was fun for a while, I had to stop because I was getting too much abuse.”

She also told V Magazine at the 2011 Inspiration Gala for amFAR that the social networking site was becoming an “addiction”.

The singer said: “Some people just take things so seriously, and things I was being funny about they would take terribly seriously.

“Plus, it’s a bit of an addiction; you got to stop it at some point and get on with living.”

Sinead O’Connor decided to quit Twitter after she said she was “getting too much abuse”

After splitting from third husband Steve Cooney in March, Sinead O’Connor tweeted about her search for a new love interest.

Sinead O’Connor said she was “desperate for s**”.

She wrote: “Must announce boyfriend search very much still on.

“If any1 wants a suicidal tourettes ridden fat ugly lunatic with a big fat flappy *****.”

Sinead O’Connor has since claimed that writing these articles was an interesting experience and: “I got the feeling that it was 50/50.

“Half the country was amused because it was funny, and they other half were very serious and just took it terrible seriously.

“So there was a fair bit of abuse and I thought, wait, it’s actually okay for me to be me, we can all be whoever we are.”

It also inspired her to write a new song for the record and change the title to How About I Be Me, And You Be You.

Sinead O’Connor also sparked fears in September after tweeting about her urge to commit suicide.

She later defended her outbursts, saying: “There is no shame in feeling suicidal. Nor in anyone knowing that wave passes over you sometimes.

“No one should be judged badly for however it is they choose to make their cry of help.”