Madonna: her younger brother Christopher died at the age of 63 from cancer

AND Christopher Ciccone, Madonna’s younger brother, died at the age of 63, struck down by cancer. The two were closely linked to the beginning of her career. Christopher was one of his dancersthen his cameraman and creative consultant, and finally the tour’s artistic director Blonde Ambition. Then i relationships have deteriorated to the point that in 2008 he blasted his sister in a book entitled Life With My Sister. In the volume, which arrived on the eve of the pop star’s fiftieth birthday and became a bestseller in the charts of New York TimesChristopher portrayed Madonna as a greedy calculator, an ungrateful perfectionist, a “mean” and a “liar». Reproaching her for having also lied about her beginnings.

Madonna has always said that she landed in New York in search of fortune «with a pair of ballet slippers and $35». The brother wrote instead that he had a solid middle-class family, money and contacts behind him. The beginning of tensions between the two – according to Christopher’s story – dates back to 1991, when Madonna brought video cameras for her documentary Truth or Dare, on their mother’s grave. «I kept it inside, but I said to myself: “Ok, now there are no more limits”. My mother had become a part – a small protagonist – of his life, of his story. And this hurt me”, the man said in a 2008 interview. Adding: “My opinion of her changed at that moment. I never said anything about it. I think that, ultimately, he is a lonely person and, unfortunately, at the top you feel really alone.”

The long feud ended about ten years ago: «As far as I’m concerned, our relationship is fine. We are in contact with each other, even though I haven’t seen her for a long time. We are back to being brother and sister. I don’t work for her, and it’s better that way. … I couldn’t be more proud of her. He is a force to be reckoned with. Does she have the voice of Barbra Streisand? No. Can she dance like Martha Graham? Probably not. But the combination of her skills made her great and left a huge legacy to her and, through her, to me. So yes, God bless her,” the man said in a 2012 interview.

Ciccone’s death, which as revealed Tmz passed away “peacefully” on Friday 4 October surrounded by the love of her loved ones and in particular of her husband, the British actor Ray Thacker, is for Madonna the second serious loss in two months: in September her stepmother Joan Ciccone died at the age of 81 from an aggressive form of cancer (who was married to the pop star’s father, Silvio Ciccone). A year ago the singer also lost her older brother, Anthony Cicconewho died at the age of 66 after a life marked by addictions.