Madonna’s brother Christopher Ciccone has died at the age of 63, Us Weekly can confirm.
Ciccone died of cancer on Friday, October 4, his family confirmed in a statement to Us. He was surrounded by his loved ones, including his husband, Ray Thacker, whom he married in 2016.
“Despite being frequently kept separate by circumstance — Thacker confined to England during the pandemic years, and on behalf of his parents’ ongoing healthcare needs — Christopher’s loving spouse was faithfully by his side during the final stages of the cancer that would ultimately end his life,” the statement from his family read.
Ciccone is survived by his father, siblings Martin, Madonna, Paula, Melanie, Jennifer and Mario. (Brother Anthony Ciccone also died in February 2023.) Us reached out to Madonna’s rep for comment.
Christopher’s death on Friday came weeks after his and Madonna’s stepmother, Joan Clare Ciccone, died after a battle with a “very aggressive cancer” at age 81. Joan, who was married to Silvio Ciccone for 58 years, “passed away peacefully” in September, per an online obituary.
“She will be terribly missed by her family and friends whose lives she enriched with her enthusiasm, joy and love,” the obituary read.
Madonna and Christopher had a rocky relationship over the years. Ciccone told Good Morning America in 2008 that his view of Madonna changed after watching her 1991 documentary, Truth or Dare.
“At one point, if you’ve seen the Truth or Dare movie, when she’s rolling around on my mother’s grave that — that was a turning point for me in my relationship with her,” Christopher said at the time. “I kept it inside but I thought to myself, ‘OK, there are no boundaries now.’”
Christopher added at the time that his “opinion of her altered at that moment. I never said anything about it.”
Christopher noted that previously the duo “were a very close brother and sister,” and said that it felt “a bit like a marriage.”
After Christopher released his 2008 memoir, Life With My Sister Madonna, Madonna’s rep Liz Rosenberg told AP at the time that she had not read the book, but found it “very upsetting” that he “has decided to sell a book based on his sister.”
Four years later, Christopher addressed their relationship in an interview with The Evening Standard.
“As far as I’m concerned, we’re good,” he said in 2012. “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.”
