Madonna has broken her silence following the death of her brother Christopher Ciccone at the age of 63. Ciccone died “peacefully” from cancer in Michigan on Friday, October 4, his representative told the New York Post.
‘He was the closest person to me for such a long time’
Madonna has now remembered her brother in a touching Instagram post. “My brother Christopher is gone. He was the closest person to me for so long,” she wrote, sharing a carousel of photos of her brother and the two of them.
Madonna added, “Our bond is hard to explain.” “But it evolved from an understanding that we were different and that society would punish us harshly if we didn’t follow the status quo. We held each other’s hands and we danced through the madness of our childhood.”
He further added, “Actually 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 neither spoken nor whispered where we lived. When I finally got the courage to go to New York to become a dancer. My brother followed.
Madonna described how the two of them “danced in the madness of New York City” and “devoured art and music and film like hungry animals”. He described himself as “the center of all these explosions”.
Madonna wrote, “We danced during the madness of the AIDS epidemic.” “We went to funerals and we cried, and we went dancing. I danced together on stage early in my career and eventually, he became the creative director of several tours. When it came to good taste, my brother was the Pope, and to get his blessing you had to kiss the ring.
He continued, “We challenged the Roman Catholic Church, the police, the moral majority and all authorities that stand in the way of artistic freedom! My brother was with me.”
Madonna described her brother as “a poet and visionary”, adding that he had “impeccable taste” and a “sharp tongue”. “Together we have scaled the highest heights and faltered at the lowest lows. Somehow, we always found each other again and we held each other’s hands and we kept dancing,” she wrote.
“The last few years have not been easy. We didn’t talk for a while but when my brother fell ill. We found our way back to each other,” she added. “I tried my best to keep him alive as long as possible. In the end he was in a lot of pain”.
“Once again, we held hands, we closed our eyes and we danced. Together. I’m glad he’s not in any pain anymore. There will never be anyone like him. I know he’s dancing somewhere,” she concluded.
