Madonna posted a black-and-white flashback photo of herself and her late brother Anthony Ciccone, who passed away at the age of 66, to her Instagram Story with the caption, “Thank you for blowing my mind as a little girl.
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Madonna is thinking back on how her late older brother Anthony Ciccone inspired her.
When Ciccone passed away at age 66, the Grammy Award winner, 64, shared a retro black-and-white photo from the 1980s of the two of them with their entire family and thanked her late brother for “blowing my mind” on her Instagram Stories.
Madonna remarked, “Thank you for blowing my mind as a young child. You sowed many essential seeds.
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She gave Anthony credit for exposing her to Miles Davis, Charles Bukowski, Richard Brautigan, Jack Kerouac, Buddhism, Taoism, and broad thinking.
Anthony passed away on Saturday, according to Madonna’s brother-in-law Joe Henry, who is married to her sister Melanie Ciccone. Anthony Gerard Ciccone, my brother-in-law, left this earthly plane last night, he stated in the caption.
“I’ve known him since the dawn of our lives in Michigan when I was 15, which is so many years ago. Anthony was a complex guy, as brother Dave Henry (who shot this photo) acknowledges; and heaven knows: we got into arguments at times, as genuine brothers can.
Yet, he said, “I liked him and knew him better than I was sometimes ready to let on. Yet problems pass, and family is still there—hands extended across the table.
Brother Anthony, goodbye for now. I’d like to believe that the goddess your blessed mother (and mine) worshipped is there, ready to welcome you. No one shall discourage me from this goal, at least not today.
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Even though they were “estranged, Madonna helped him in any way she could when he was prepared to receive the support,” the insider told PEOPLE. “Family members including Madonna visited him while in his rehab facility as he decreased these last few months,” the source said.
In their native Michigan, Anthony claimed to be “homeless on the street” and to be residing beneath a bridge in 2011. After spending time in a treatment facility, Anthony Ciccone was “back home” and “recovering,” according to his brother Christopher Ciccone, who spoke to The Mirror in 2017.