Madonna and her brother Christopher Ciccone (Image: Getty)
The younger brother of , Christopher Ciccone, has died at the age of 63.
worked as a designer, artist and director. He did work organising concert tours, music videos, and film, to commercial, residential interior and furniture design.
He was once Madonna’s closest sibling and began his career as her assistant, dresser, stylist and artistic director. But when Christopher wrote up his book about his relationship with his sister in 2008, , it caused a wedge between the pair.
In 2003 she dropped him as her tour director, but by 2012 his relationship with his performer sister appeared to be on the mend.
He told the Evening Standard at the time: “[We are] on a perfectly personable level right now. As far as I’m concerned, we’re good. We are in contact with each other, although I haven’t seen her for a long time.
Christopher released a bomb shell book about life with his famous sister (Image: Getty)
“We’re back to being a brother and sister. I don’t work for her, and it’s better this way.”
In the same interview, the designer praised his sister, saying: “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.”
Like his brothers, he has also struggled with alcohol and drug abuse – with Madonna paying for his stints in rehab.
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The siblings used to be extremely close and even worked together (Image: Getty)
The tragic news of Christopher’s passing comes just weeks after Madonna’s step mum, Joan, died at 81 after a brief illness on September 27.
According to an online obituary, Ciccone died “peacefully” following a “very aggressive cancer.”
“She will be terribly missed by her family and friends whose lives she enriched with her enthusiasm, joy and love,” the obituary states.
Joan was married to Madonna’s father, Silvio, for 58 years after her biological mother, also named Madonna, died of breast cancer in 1963 when the singer was 5.