She's baaaack . . . then again, with all her recent public ups and downs, it feels like Sinead O’Connor has never really been away.

In the wake of the recent marriage/break-up/reunion/suicide threat, etc., the Irish singer had an album to launch, and some shows in the U.S. to perform.  Her new CD, How About I Be Me (And You Be You)? has earned some rave reviews, and she also impressed her fans last week with concerts in New York and Los Angeles.

There’s really no one better at garnering headlines than Sinead. One of the funnier ones that originated last week claimed that one of her unfulfilled wishes is to pose full-frontal for a Playboy magazine shoot.

"A Playboy shoot is on my bucket list. And I like the idea of doing some interview in weird sex gear, talking about something really serious. The economy! You can talk about serious issues while you're b**lock naked, on all fours, in your dog collar!" she reportedly told The Word magazine.

But on her official website, Sinead, 45 and a mother of four, says her words were tongue in cheek, and that she has no desire to show the world her birthday suit.

“While I AM deliciously gorgeous AND impossibly, unbearably desirous I have not, nor have I ever, nursed any desire or intention to pose for Playboy. 
Some time ago I spread (pardon pun) the rumor just to amuse self and see which Irish papers would be stupid enuff to print it,” she wrote.

“But it is absolutely untrue.
 Who on earth would want to look at me naked except a doctor? However if (Hugh Hefner) decides he can't manage without me I could, for an awful lot of money, be persuaded to pose for the 'hairy freaks' edition.”

So that’s that, then. In other Sinead news, she was forced to cancel appearances on the Today show and Anderson Cooper’s daytime talker because of throat problems stemming from a bad sound system at her LA concert. And she also wants the world to know that she’s still happily married to Barry Herridge, the Irish drugs counselor who she wed in Las Vegas in December.

“Happily, for some reason the man adores me and wasn't taking no for an answer so I can happily confirm that we have been 'back together' for a long time now and our separation, induced by a fearful woman off her meds and wishing to protect her husband, who is very delicate, as indeed am I, only lasted a week,” she wrote on her website.

For more musings on the World According to Sinead, visit www.sineadoconnor.com.