Madonna has shared her heartbreak following the death of her brother Christopher Ciccone at the age of 63.
On Sunday evening, the Queen of Pop announced the news on Instagram that her younger brother had died.
Although she did not share a cause of death, she told her followers that Christopher had been unwell for some time.
Madonna and Christopher collaborated numerous times throughout the chart-topping singer’s career. He first served as her back-up dancer, before eventually becoming the director of her 1993 world tour The Girlie Show.
However, the two had a tumultuous relationship – which Madonna acknowledged in her statement – with Christopher even releasing a tell-all memoir, Life With My Sister Madonna, in 2008.
Alongside candid photos of herself and Christopher, Madonna wrote: “My brother Christopher is gone. He was the closest human to me for so long.”
“It’s hard to explain our bond,” she admitted. “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.
“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. And again we took each other’s hands, and we danced through the madness of New York City!”
Madonna continued: “We devoured art and music and film like hungry animals. We were in the epicenter of all of these things exploding.
“We danced through the madness of the AIDS epidemic. We went to funerals and we cried, and we went dancing. 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,” she recalled. “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. 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.”
Madonna revealed: “The last few years have not been easy. We did not speak for sometime but when my brother got sick, we found our way back to each other.
“I did my best to keep him alive as long as possible. 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. I know he’s dancing somewhere.”
In addition to his work with his sister, Christopher was a successful artist, interior decorator and fashion designer.
He also directed music videos for the likes of Dolly Parton and Tony Bennett.
Weeks earlier, it was revealed that Madonna’s stepmum Joan Ciccone, who helped raise the singer and her late brother, had died at the age of 81.
Her brother Anthony also died two years ago, aged 66, with Madonna paying an emotional tribute at the time.