Who is Christopher Ciccone? All you need to know as Madonna speaks out in wake of brother's death at age 63

How did Christopher Ciccone die?
Madonna (Image via official Instagram @madonna)

Madonna has come forward to address the death of her brother Christopher Ciccone. Ciccone died of cancer at the age of 63. The exact type of cancer has not been announced as of the writing of this article. Ciccone was with his partner Ray Thacker at the time of death.

The singer made her address on an Instagram post on October 7, 2024:

"My brother Christopher is gone. 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.We took each other‘s hands and we danced through the madness of our childhood."

The singer continued:

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.

The singer further described how the two worked together in New York and survived the era of the AIDS Epidemic, defied the Roman Catholic Church and everyone else in their way, and how he became her Creative Director. She went on to say:

"I admired him. He had impeccable taste. And a sharp tongue, Which he sometimes used against me but I always forgave him.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 last few years have not been easy. We did not speak for sometime but-"

The singer added,

"-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."

A brief elaboration on the relationship between Madonna and the late Christopher Ciccone

As elaborated in the singer's statement, Madonna and her brother went to New York together, and Ciccone became her creative director. He served as the creative director of Madonna's Blond Ambition World Tour in 1990 and the director of The Girlie Show in 1993.

However, Madonna and her late brother had a falling out sometime after that. Ciccone's 2008 memoir Life With My Sister Madonna states that the falling out happened in part because the singer brought cameras to their mother's funeral for her documentary Truth or Dare.

Ciccone also accused the singer of outing him at a 1991 interview with The Advocate. Ciccone also accused Madonna's ex-husband, Guy Ritchie, of being homophobic. The duo eventually reconciled in the 2010s, having a cordial relationship in the years before Ciccone died.

Before Ciccone died, Madonna also lost Joan Clare Ciccone, her stepmother, on September 24, 2024. Last year, the singer lost her brother, Anthony Ciccone, in February 2023.

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Edited by Priscillah Mueni