Madonna paid a poignant tribute to her brother, Christopher Ciccone, who "died peacefully" Friday after battling cancer. He was 63.
Christopher was one of the singer's three younger siblings.
"My brother Christopher is gone," said the 66-year-old music icon of one of her three younger siblings.
"He was the closest human to me for so long."
The carousel of photos featuring her and her brother throughout her early life and career exemplified their close familial relationship.
She continued in her tribute post:
"It's 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 explained how a common passion made them tighter and how it was a saving grace growing up in the Detroit suburbs of what is now Rochester Hills.
She continued:
"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."
The "Vogue" singer said she and Christopher "danced through the madness of New York City" and "devoured Art and Music and Film like hungry animals."
Despite being in the "epicenter of all of these things exploding," the siblings also "danced through the madness" of the AIDS epidemic that claimed the lives of many of their friends throughout the 1980s and '90s.
"We went to funerals and we cried," she recalled, but that didn't stop them from expressing their emotion and mourning losses together through dance.
Christopher was an artist, interior decorator and also served as the art director on Madonna’s Blond Ambition World Tour in 1990 and tour director for her The Girlie Show in 1993.
"We danced together on stage in the beginning of my career and eventually, he became the Creative Director, of many tours."
"When it came to good taste, my brother was the Pope, and you had to kiss the ring to get his blessing."
"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."
She continued:
"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," said Madonna, referring to their falling-out chronicled in his 2008 tell-all memoir, Life With My Sister Madonna, which became a New York Times bestseller.
Christopher claimed his sister outed him in her 1991 interview with LGBTQ+ magazine The Advocate, saying, “My brother Christopher’s gay, and he and I have always been the closest members of my family.”
He also alleged Madonna's ex-husband, filmmaker Guy Ritchie, to whom she was married from 2000 to 2008, was homophobic.
Christopher said the "turning point" came when Madonna brought the camera crew to their mother's gravesite as part of her 1991 concert documentary film Truth or Dare.
"We did not speak for some time, but when my brother got sick, we found our way back to each other," she said.
"I did my best to keep him alive as long as possible."
She concluded the post with:
"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," she said, adding:
"I know he’s dancing somewhere.💔"
Fans and music industry colleagues sent their heartfelt condolences for her loss.
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@madonna/Instagram
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A rep confirmed Christopher passed away in Michigan with his "loving" husband, British hairdresser Ray Thacker, who was “faithfully by his side.”
Christopher's death came less than two weeks after his and Madonna's stepmother, Joan Clare Ciccone, died from cancer.
Their mother, also named Madonna, died of breast cancer on December 1, 1963 when the future pop star was five.
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