Christopher Ciccone, an artist, interior designer and Madonna‘s younger brother, died Friday, The Hollywood Reporter has learned. He was 63.
Ciccone had been battling cancer and died peacefully, surrounded by his husband, Ray Thacker, and other loved ones, according to a statement from Ciccone’s rep.
Ciccone, who got his start as a dancer and choreographer, used his talents to support Madonna’s emerging career, becoming dresser and creative consultant to his superstar sister. He also directed music videos and tours, including Madonna’s The Girlie Show world tour in 1993. And he was the art director for her 1990 Blond Ambition World Tour.
He went on to work as an interior, footwear and furniture designer and artist and wrote the 2008 best-selling book Life With My Sister Madonna, which led to reports that the siblings had had a falling-out.
Ciccone claimed Madonna outed him in a 1991 interview with The Advocate, where she identified him as “gay,” and he accused Madonna’s ex-husband Guy Ritchie of being homophobic. He said the “turning point” in their relationship came when she brought cameras to their mother’s grave for her 1991 documentary, Truth or Dare.
“I kept it inside but I thought to myself, ‘OK, there are no boundaries now.’ You know, my mother’s now become a side — a bit player in her life, life story, and it hurt me,” he told Good Morning America in 2008. “And my opinion of her altered at that moment. I never said anything about it.”
He added, “I think, ultimately, she’s a lonely person and, unfortunately, it truly is lonely at the top.”
Madonna’s longtime rep Liz Rosenberg told the Associated Press at the time that the artist didn’t read the tell-all but found it “very upsetting” that Christopher “decided to sell a book based on his sister.”
“I would have to assume she has come to terms with the fact that they do not have a close and loving relationship,” Rosenberg said. “And with the book coming out, I assume that will remove the chances of that ever happening.”
But in 2012 interviews, Ciccone indicated they had patched things up. “Our relationship is fine as far as I’m concerned,” he told CBS News.
He added to The Evening Standard: “We are in contact with each other, although I haven’t seen her for a long time. We’re back to being a brother and sister. I don’t work for her, and it’s better this way. … I couldn’t be more proud of her. She is a force to be reckoned with. Does she have Barbra Streisand’s voice? No. Can she dance like Martha Graham? Probably not. But the combination of her abilities has made her great and left a huge legacy for her, and through her, for me. So yeah, God bless her.”
Madonna remembered Ciccone in an Instagram post later Sunday, in which she looked back at their life together, describing him as “the closest human to me for so long” and that though they “did not speak for sometime,” when he became sick, “We found our way back to each other.”
“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 wrote, alongside a carousel of photos of Ciccone. “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. 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!”
She added, “We defied the Roman Catholic Church, the police, the moral majority and all Authority figures that got in the way of artistic freedom! My brother was right by my side. 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. 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 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.”
Ciccone did commercial interior design for restaurants in New York City, Miami and Los Angeles, the corporate boxes for London’s O2 arena and a Miami Beach luxury condo development.
His furniture design for Bernhardt Furniture was chosen to be used in President Bill Clinton’s New York office.
Christopher Gerard Ciccone was born in Pontiac, Michigan, on Nov. 20, 1960, the fifth child and third son of Madonna Louise and Silvio Patrick Ciccone. He was raised in Rochester, Michigan.
Studying dance and attending college at Western Michigan and Oakland universities, he moved to New York City, where he worked alongside Madonna.
In his latter years, he moved back to Michigan, near family members who are involved in his father’s Suttons Bay-based wine company, Ciccone Vineyards.
He married Thacker, a British actor living in Los Angeles, in 2016.
In addition to Thacker and Madonna, Ciccone is survived by his father; other siblings Martin, Paula, Melanie, Jennifer and Mario; and nieces, nephews and cousins.
Ciccone and Madonna’s stepmother Joan Ciccone died of cancer in September and their brother Anthony died in early 2023.
12:50 p.m. This story has been updated with Madonna’s tribute to her brother.