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Madonna's brother, Christopher "Chris" Gerard Ciccone, has died at 63. According to People, his representative said he died of cancer on Friday, October 4. Ciccone reportedly died "peacefully" and was in the company of his husband, Ray Thacker.
Christopher's surviving family members, Silvio Ciccone, Martin, Madonna, Paula, Melanie, Jennifer, and Mario, were also mourning his stepmother, Joan Gustafson Ciccone, who died of cancer in September, while in 2023, his eldest brother Anthony passed away due to a throat cancer that led him have a respiratory failure.
In a 1999 interview with Larry King, Madonna spoke about her relationship with Joan, saying, "Truthfully, I didn't respect my stepmother when I was growing up. In retrospect, I was really hard on her." She admitted that Joan tried to build a good relationship with her, but she wasn't ready to accept the change after her mother's death.
Despite the rocky beginnings, their relationship softened over time. Although Madonna's public statements about her stepmother remained scarce in later years, Madonna was listed as a surviving child in her obituary.
The Ciccone family has a long cancer history, with Madonna's mother, Madonna Louise Ciccone, passing away in 1963 from breast cancer.
According to the publication, Christopher worked with Madonna during the early stages of her career as a backup dancer. He also worked as the art director for Blond Ambition World Tour in 1990 and 1993's The Girlie Show.
According to the late's creative rep, "Christopher continued to work: as an interior specialist, a footwear designer, a memoirist—all the while dedicating himself to painting as his primary mode of personal expression."
Madonna took to social media to share the news. "My brother Christopher is gone," she began. "He was the closest human to me for so long. Its hard to explain our bond. But it grew out of an understanding that we were different and society was going to give us a hard time for not following the status quo."
The singer said they were inseparable. "We took each other‘s hands and we danced through the madness of our childhood. In fact dance was a kind of superglue that held us together. Discovering Dance in our small Midwestern town saved me and then my brother came along, and it saved him too. My ballet Teacher, also named Christopher- created a safe space for my brother to be Gay. a word that was not spoken or even whispered where we lived. When I finally got the courage to go to New York to become a Dancer. My brother followed. And again we took each other’s hands, and we danced through the madness of New York City!"
Madonna said they "devoured Art and Music And Film like hungry animals. We were in the epicenter of all of these things exploding. We danced through the madness of the AIDS epidemic. We went to funerals and we cried, and we went dancing. We danced together on stage in the beginning of my career and eventually, he became the Creative Director, of many tours. When it came to good taste, my brother was the Pope, and you had to kiss the ring to get his blessing."
"We defied the Roman Catholic Church, The Police, the Moral Majority and all Authority figures that got in the way of Artistic freedom! My brother was right by my side. He was a painter a poet and a visionary. I admired him. He had impeccable taste. And a sharp tongue, Which he sometimes used against me but I always forgave him," she added. "We soared the highest heights together And floundered in the lowest lows. Somehow, we always found each other again and We held hands and we kept dancing."
The star concluded saying "the last few years have not been easy," revealing they didn's communicate for a while. "When my brother got sick. We found our way back to each other. I did my best to keep him alive as long as possible. He was in so much pain towards the end. Once again, we held hands We closed our eyes and we danced. Together. I’m glad he’s not suffering anymore. There will never be anyone like him. I know he’s dancing somewhere.💔"