Madonna’s Brother Anthony Ciccone has been in the news a lot recently after passing away just a few days ago. Many initial reports suggested that the two siblings had a strained relationship and had not spoken in years, and that the singer was not being helpful to her family member in his time of need
However, according to updated and new reports, this might not have been entirely true.
Sources close to the family have recently come forward to clarify that Madonna had been paying for Ciccone’s rehab and housing leading up to his death.
He had been staying at a Michigan rehab center for a while, and it seems that Madonna and other family members had been actively trying to help him for years.
Unfortunately, Ciccone had been suffering from alcoholism, which had led to his homelessness, and he had become accustomed to living on the streets. Despite Madonna’s efforts to help him, he had repeatedly rejected assistance in the past.
In his final days, however, Ciccone’s health had taken a turn for the worse, and he could no longer take care of himself. It was then that Madonna and other family members stepped in to ensure that he received the care he needed, despite their troubled past.
Joe Henry, who is Madonna’s brother-in-law, shared the news of Ciccone’s passing on Instagram.
Henry expressed his grief and also reflected on the complexity of their relationship as brothers. In his post, Henry said, “Anthony was a complex character, and God knows we tangled in moments, as true brothers can. But I loved him and understood him better than I was sometimes willing to let on. Trouble fades, and family remains — with hands reached across the table.”
Madonna and Ciccone’s relationship was covered regularly in the media, as he spoke out against her from time to time.
In a 2011 interview with the Daily Mail, Ciccone spoke candidly about his family estrangement, saying, “I’m a zero in their eyes; a non-person. I’m an embarrassment. If I froze to death, my family probably wouldn’t know or care about it for six months.”
Although Ciccone’s passing has undoubtedly been difficult for Madonna and her family, the singer recently took to Instagram to pay tribute to her brother and thank him for introducing her to various artists and ideas when they were growing up.
“Thank you for blowing my mind as a young girl and introducing me to Charlie Parker / Miles Davis / Buddhism / Taoism / Charles Bukowski / Richard Brautigan / Jack Kerouac / Expansive Thinking / Outside the Box,” she wrote on Instagram, along with a throwback photo of her brother. “You planted many important seeds.”
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