Madonna utters one heartbreaking word as she visits grave of brother with daughter Lourdes

Madonna, 66, and her daughter Lourdes Leon, 28, visited the grave of her younger brother Christopher Ciccone in Michigan. The 63-year-old died of pancreatic cancer on October 4

Madonna has visited the grave of her late brother Christopher paying a moving tribute to him after he died earlier this month.

The pop icon, 66, took to Instagram to share some sombre snaps of herself by her younger sibling's grave at Calvary Cemetery in Kawkawlin, Michigan. She was accompanied by her daughter Lourdes Leon on the poignant visit and also shared a photo of the 28-year-old model.

Christopher died of pancreatic cancer on October 4. The artist, dancer and designer was 63 years old when he passed away. After her visit to the cemetery, Madonna posted a snap of her brother's green marble gravestone, featuring his name, Christopher Ciccone, his date of birth and date of death. She heartbreakingly captioned it with one word, writing: "Homecoming............."

She also shared photos of some red roses she left on the grave as Levon Henry played Duke Ellington's song "Single Petal of a Rose" on the saxophone during their farewell. Madonna, in a dark outfit with a headscarf, also posted a picture of her kneeling at what appears to be her mother's grave, which is in the same cemetery as her brother's.

Madonna Fortin Ciccone, who the singer was named after, died aged 30 on December 1, 1963, when the star was just five years old. The hitmaker's daughter, wearing an all-black outfit, then posed for a photo at her grandmother's gravestone, holding some pink and red roses.

The "Like a Prayer" singer also looked back in time by sharing an old, black and white video of her kneeling at her mother's grave while Christopher looked on. She captioned the clip: "Life is a Circle." She then paid a visit to her grandmother's house in Michigan. Posing outside the home, she wrote: "When I was little, I thought my Nanoos house was a mansion!"

When Christopher died earlier this month, he was surrounded by his husband Ray Thacker and their loved ones. He passed away just over a week after the siblings' stepmother, Joan Clare Ciccone, died on September 24. The siblings worked closely together throughout the Queen of Pop's career, however their relationship was strained over the years, with a huge falling out that blew their bond.

But in a touching gesture in the months leading up to his death, Madonna invited her terminally ill brother to live with her at her Los Angeles home, Mail Online reported. "Christopher had pancreatic cancer and had been living at Madonna's house in Los Angeles for over a year prior to his passing," a source told the publication.

They noted that "despite their tumultuous relationship over the years," Madonna "took care of him during his fight with cancer" and "spared no expense in ensuring he had the best possible care and support." Christopher had previously worked in the music industry as a designer, artist and director as he organised concert tours, music videos as well as films.

It is said that the pair first clashed after Madonna outed him in a 1991 interview, where she told The Advocate: "My brother Christopher's gay, and he and I have always been the closest members of my family." However, trouble then brewed 10 years later when the brother came to realise he had been replaced as the tour director for Madonna's Drowned World Tour. At the same time, Madonna's marriage to Guy Ritchie created further distance between them, with Christopher later recounting it as the "death knell for my relationship with her."

He revealed details about the doomed relationship in his 2008 bombshell book titled Life with My Sister Madonna. He claimed the film director "drove at him" and admitted they "never got along." Christopher added the Material Girl star was a "middle class girl who propagates the story that she landed in Time Square with just a pair of ballet shoes and $35 to her name." But his claims didn't end there as he went on to say that her narrative is "pure mythology and the further she progresses, the more mythological her life story becomes."

Reflecting on these tumultuous times, Christopher told The Guardian: "From the moment I found out that I wasn't doing Drowned World, to her and Guy's wedding, everything became a bit of a blur, a dark, fairly negative period of time for me." Tensions thawed as the siblings got older, and they were drawn back together again in the wake of their older brother's sad death, which was a pivotal moment for the family. Anthony Ciccone died in February 2023 from throat cancer.

"Their relationship had seen its share of ups and downs," the source added, "but after the death of their brother Anthony, they grew very close." The singer took to Instagram shortly after news of Christopher's death to share a heartbreaking statement. In the lengthy upload, Madonna shared a number of images of the pair and admitted that "there will never be anyone like him."

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