Madonna honors brother Christopher Ciccone: ‘Did my best to keep him alive’

Christopher Ciccone, an artist and the younger brother of Madonna, has died. He was 63.
Ciccone died Friday after a battle with cancer, a representative confirmed to USA TODAY on Sunday. His husband, Ray Thacker, remained “faithfully by his side during the final stages of the cancer that would ultimately end his life,” and he died “peacefully” surrounded by loved ones, according to a statement from the family.
In an Instagram post on Sunday, Madonna paid tribute to her late brother, saying he was the “closest human to me for so long.”
“My brother was right by my side,” she wrote. “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.”
The “Material Girl” singer, 66, acknowledged that she and her brother did “not speak for sometime.” But she shared they “found our way back to each other” after he got sick.
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“I did my best to keep him alive as long as possible,” she wrote. “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.”
Ciccone was born in Pontiac, Michigan, and was the fifth child of Madonna’s parents Madonna Louise and Silvio Ciccone. They had a total of six children, and after Madonna’s mother died, her father remarried and had two more kids, Jennifer and Mario.
After attending Western Michigan University and Oakland University, Ciccone moved to New York and served as a dancer for his sister. He also worked for her as a dresser, creative consultant and interior designer, according to an obituary provided by the family.
Ciccone was also the tour director for her Girlie Show tour. He released a shoe collection in 2012 and directed music videos for artists like Dolly Parton.
In 2008, Ciccone published a tell-all memoir about his sibling titled “Life with My Sister Madonna.”
“She hasn’t been very kind to my parents, to my brothers and sisters, on many occasions, and I wanted to correct that,” he told CBS at the time. In the 2008 interview, Ciccone said he and his sister were no longer speaking directly but that he wrote the book from the perspective of “a brother who loves her.”
“Some people consider it a betrayal of some kind. I consider it my memoirs,” he said, adding, “She will always be my sister. That is never going to ever go away.”
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Speaking to Good Morning America in 2008, Ciccone said his relationship with his sister became strained for a number of reasons, including finances. But by 2012, the two of them were now “good.”
“We are in contact with each other, although I haven’t seen her for a long time,” he told the Evening Standard. “We’re back to being a brother and sister. I don’t work for her, and it’s better this way.”
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Madonna’s older brother Anthony Ciccone died last year at 66.
“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 said in a tribute to her brother at the time. “You planted many important seeds.”
Madonna’s stepmother, Joan Ciccone, also died last month after a battle with cancer.