Madonna has paid a heart-wrenching tribute to her brother Christopher Ciccone, who sadly passed away on Oct. 4 at the age of 63.
Christopher died as a result of his battle with cancer, a representative confirmed to TMZ. He passed away surrounded by his husband Ray Thacker and loved ones.
"My brother Christopher is gone," the popstar wrote on Instagram on Oct. 6 alongside a beautiful set of photos of herself with her younger brother.
"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."
Madonna went on to describe what bonded the two of them most: their love of dance. Christopher was famously one of her backup dancers towards the beginning of her career, before serving as a show designer, dresser, and then artistic director on the singer's tours, per TMZ.
"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," Madonna wrote.
"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 and Christopher were estranged for years before his death, having fallen out following the release of his autobiography, Life With My Sister Madonna, according to E! News.
"We soared the highest heights together. And floundered in the lowest lows," she wrote on Instagram.
"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 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."
She concluded, "I’m glad he’s not suffering anymore. There will never be anyone like him. I know he’s dancing somewhere."
Condolences poured in from the likes of Julia Fox, Katy Perry, Jerrod Blandino, Perez Hilton, Zoe Saldana and Donatella Versace.
Tragically, Christopher's marks the third death from cancer in Madonna's family in less than two years. People reported that her stepmother Joan Ciccone passed away from cancer just two weeks ago, at the age of 81, and Madonna's oldest brother, Anthony Ciccone, died from cancer in February 2023. The singer's brother-in-law, Joe Henry, announced Anthony's passing on Instagram, and penned a moving tribute to him at the time.
Madonna herself experienced a health scare last year, postponing dates from her tour amid a stay in the ICU for a "serious bacterial infection."
