Highlights
- Madonna's wealth did not repair her strained relationship with her late brother Anthony, who was homeless and in poor health before his death.
- Anthony claimed that Madonna refused to help him financially.
- Family friends and insiders suggest that Anthony rejected Madonna's help.
Madonna is pop music royalty. She's achieved every commercial and artistic goal she's set during her five-decade career and remains one of the best-selling musicians of all time. To no one's surprise, Madonna's success has translated to staggering wealth. Celebrity Net Worth states that the "Vogue" singer is worth $850 million.
Unfortunately, money wasn't enough to repair the strained relationship between Madonna and her late brother, Anthony Ciccone. The two were estranged for most of their lives, and despite Madonna's numerous attempts to help Anthony, he was in dire financial straits by the time he died in 2023. He was 66 years old.
Anthony Ciccone Claimed He Was Homeless And In Poor Health Because Madonna Refused To Help Him Financially
Anthony Ciccone turned heads when he was interviewed by the Michigan Messenger in 2011. He told the outlet that he wound up homeless after losing his job at the vineyard owned by his parents and was forced to sleep under a bridge in Traverse City. The bridge in question was only 12 miles away from the vineyard.
Anthony also claimed to suffer from frostbite due to being stuck out in the cold. "I got frostbite on my feet last winter," he revealed. "A friend of mine lost all ten toes. Several have died of hypothermia." When asked why he was relegated to homelessness despite having a wealthy sister, Anthony accused Madonna of not caring about his well-being:
"You think I haven’t answered this kind of question a bazillion times — why my sister is a multibazillionarie, and I’m homeless on the street? Never say never. This could happen to anybody. My family turned their back on me, basically, when I was having a hard time."
Anthony's bitterness towards Madonna grew the more time he spent on the streets. He was less cordial towards her during a 2013 interview with the Daily Mail, in which he claimed that he never loved her. "Madonna doesn’t give a s**t if I’m dead or alive," he asserted. "She lives in her own world. I never loved her in the first place, she never loved me. We never loved each other."
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Madonna brought her kids on stage during a concert, and it didn't go quite as expected in terms of how the audience reacted.Anthony was homeless for seven years before the Ciccone family eventually took him back in 2017. According to the Mirror, the family were compelled to step in after Anthony spent time at a rehab shelter for homeless addicts and began drinking heavily. The outlet described him as being in recovery, but he remained in poor health until his death on February 25, 2023.
People Magazine confirmed that Anthony's death was caused by multiple health issues, including respiratory failure and oropharyngeal cancer.
Family Friends Claim That Anthony Ciccone Rejected Madonna's Help And Refused To Take Care Of Himself
Anthony was extremely critical of Madonna during the last decade of his life, but those close to the Ciccone family claim that the situation was more complicated than he made it seem. He'd been let go from several jobs over the years, and he spent two years living on the streets of Los Angeles in the 2000s before his family gave him a position in their vineyard.
Kathy Mateyer worked in the Ciccone family vineyard's wine tasting room, and she told Daily News that Anthony was fired and ultimately barred from returning because he'd developed a serious drinking problem:
"He would sneak into the cellars and he would lay on the floor, open up one of the big tanks, and drink the wine with a glass. They think [returning] would kill him. It already kind of has. Anthony just won’t accept help."
Mateyer also revealed that Madonna had reached out "several times" during Anthony's time on the streets, and offered to pay for his rehab treatments. Each time she offered, Anthony turned her down. "They have helped him so many times," she added. "[And] they've given him lots of chances."
Anthony actually discussed some of these "chances" with Daily Mail:
- In 2005, he agreed to spend two months at a rehab clinic in Houston, Texas. Madonna agreed to pay for the treatment, but he failed to stay the entire time because he didn't think it was necessary.
- In 2017, he spent time at Dann's House in Michigan, but the treatment, which involved giving addicts alcohol, proved ineffective.
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Madonna's had many famous and non-famous boyfriends, including a few men who were much younger than her.Anthony, the oldest of seven Ciccone siblings, did admit that his life began to spiral after he divorced his wife Mary Jane Lawson in 1999. Lawson filed a restraining order against Anthony, according to the Daily Mail, and she was awarded custody of their son, Angelo. Anthony noted that being stripped of his family made him feel "insane," and resulted in a spiral that would last for the rest of his life.
Madonna Paid For Her Brother's Rehab Care In The Months Leading Up To His Death In 2023
Madonna stepped in when Anthony Ciccone's health worsened in 2022. Page Six reported that the singer put Anthony up in a Michigan facility when it became clear that he could no longer care for himself. The arrangement ultimately led to the estranged siblings talking a couple of times before Anthony's death.
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Madonna had a hit song offered to her, but she turned down the '80s jam — and another artist hit it big.An insider told the outlet that the Ciccone family knew when to expect the worst:
“Madonna helped to support her brother when he would accept that support. During his final months, he was in contact with family and Madonna, but this past week, he refused the support the rehab facility offered, and it was clear he was ready to move on."
Madonna has never spoken about Anthony's struggles in an interview, but she posted a photo of them together on Instagram following his death. The photo was from the early 1980s, and the caption revealed that Anthony was a formative influence on Madonna's artistic tastes.
"Thank you for blowing my mind as a young girl and introducing me to Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Buddhism, Taoism, Charles Bukowski, Jack Kerouac, Expansive Thinking, Outside the Box," the caption read. "You planted many important seeds." Madonna also talked about her brother during a concert in Antwerp in October 2023.
In an interview conducted after Anthony's death, former girlfriend Carolina Gengo shed light on the kind of person he was, and the difficulty he had being in Madonna's shadow. "He didn't like being known as the brother of Madonna," she told Daily Mail. "He was a lost soul trying to find his way but he was a good person."
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