Christopher Ciccone
Madonna’s brother has written a tell all book about his superstar sister. Here he explains why he thinks Madonna and Guy’s marriage is actually happy, how he thinks Madge has had surgery and why Madonna has cancelled Christmas forever.
Despite writing a tell all book revealing the problems within Madonna’s marriage to Guy Ritchie and the singers obsession with Kaballah, her brother Christopher Ciccone still thinks that one day the pair will be friends again.
For now, the book is causing deep family problems – with Madonna desperate to get all her close family members to cut him out of their lives. He reveals: “The situation now is that it’s at its ugliest point. I feel terrible for my father. This is an unintended consequence. Madonna’s asked my father to choose between me or her. He wouldn’t do that and he told her.
“I always reassured him that I wasn’t tearing up the family. I have every right to tell my side of things. I was disappointed that she thought I was going to set out to ruin her. Of course I wasn’t. She obviously doesn’t know me as well as I thought she did. She certainly does now.”
As a huge Madonna fan I was hoping I’d dislike Christopher for selling out his own flesh and blood in this book. But I left the interview feeling like I slightly understood his reasons for dishing the dirt on Madge. He’s obviously had enough of being in his sister’s shadow.
Chris, who’s worked as the artistic director on two of Madonna’s world tours, has absolutely no regrets on writing the book because he says it’s all from his perspective – and believes they will be friends again one day. But for now the pair are at war. He says: “Our last contact was about four weeks ago. We had an email exchange. I got a command email saying: “Call me.” I don’t respond to those ‘commands’ anymore.
“It’s possible I’ve shut the door forever, but that door was not ever really open to begin with. She was always here on this level and everyone else is down here - as they all are. That’s not a way to have a relationship. I’m sure she’s read it. I’d be surprised if she hadn’t. I would if I were her. You get to look behind the curtain and see how we were living. I have nothing to be guilty over with this book – but it’s unlikely I’m going to go for tea at the country house next Sunday!”
“Look, if I had torn her apart and written this from a negative perspective then fine I’d be guilty - but with this book as it is, I’m fine.”
Christopher is very vocal about one thing throughout our time together – the fact he doesn’t approve of Madonna’s current husband of seven years Guy Ritchie.
“Our relationship to breakdown after Guy arrived,” he says. “I think for us to be friends again Guy’s attitude has to change. He needs to deal with whatever his problems are. All I can tell you is that he has issues. I think the combination Madonna and mine’s closeness and the fact I was gay made it worse. Like I say in the book, I have never interfered in her relationship. I think everybody knew I had an issue with Guy on the inner circle. I don’t think the Guy thing will upset her. I think the thing that will upset her is that I’ve made her human for everyone to read about. Any revelation is about how I was feeling or felt – not about her.”
And although he hasn’t been in close contact with Madonna for close to a decade he insists that Madonna’s marriage to Guy remains strong. He also thinks rumours that his sister had an affair with baseball player Alex Rodriguez are “completely ridiculous”. He says: “The divorce rumours will continue to go on and on until they do divorce. I believe they got married because they were in love with each other. As far as I know they still are. There’s so much speculation.”
But he does think that one of the rumoured arguments between the famous couple, over Madonna wanting to move back to New York, could have an element of truth to it. “I wouldn’t be surprised if she wanted to go back to New York. She’s never been a real country girl at all,” he laughs.
Christopher also hopes that the book doesn’t mean he’ll be cut off by mutual friends like film star Gwyneth Paltrow. He smiles: “Yes, as far as I know the last time I checked me and Gwyneth were still friends. I’m sure Madonna’s put out to everyone about the book. I suppose at least I get to work out my real friends. On the plus side I’m pleased people are not coming to me for concert tickets anymore. That’s a welcome relief.”
I ask him for his fondest and worst memory of his superstar sister. He immediately says: “I think when she opened at Wembley Stadium for the Girlie Show. It was a show that I’d never been more proud of as I directed it and we were underneath the stage waiting for her to go on. The lights came up and it was just me and her.
“I think the worst was the graveyard scene in In Bed with Madonna –when she lay on our mother’s grave for the cameras to film. It left a very deep mark with me. There aren’t that many things in my life that I consider sacred but she crossed that line. With the cameras rolling and they are saying you do this, you do that. And then they wanted me to do that too lying next to the grave with her. There was no fucking way I was going to do that. She didn’t even realise it was an issue or a problem.”
Christopher, who’s only met Madonna’s daughter Lourdes a few times when she was a baby and never met Madonna’s son Rocco or adopted child David, laughs as he tells another intimate story about his sister. “She literally walked in one day a few years back after she’d started studying Kaballah and said Christmas wasn’t happening,” he giggles. “We dubbed it our first non-Christmas. She literally wiped it out and announced she wasn’t celebrating it anymore and there wouldn’t be any presents. No tree and no decorations. None of that. We could have birthday presents – but Christmas was cancelled.”
The star’s brother, who has studied Kaballah himself for the past few years, is highly complimentary of her stage presence and thinks she could continue performing into her 70s thanks to the way she works out. He adds: “I hope her performing evolves into something appropriate. I might be kind of funny if she was crotch grabbing at 70. There is a way for her to tour until she was old. I’d say she would need to tour with a great director and listen to them properly.”
Chris also reveals that the star has only just found time in her busy life to start tinkering with plastic surgery. “She hadn’t had any surgery when I was with her after Lola was born,” he says. “She’s obviously had something done now. It’s a little extreme for me but each to their own. I can see she wants to try and stay younger. She knows that she’s permanently being documented and it’s hard for her to keep her looks like anybody else.
“She was never really worried about staying youthful ten years ago. It wasn’t something she really worried about. We are all lucky – we don’t have to look at the progression of our age in the newspapers. But she obviously does.”
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I literally red the book in one sitting. Me being one of the biggest and most dedicated Madonna fans for over 20 years, I do feel that Christopher is just trying to tell his sister and homobophic brother in law: ‘You hurt me’. Christopher did I great job writing the book and giving little stories that we did not know about Madonna. Thank you Christopher for writing this book, I now love you as Christopher the human being, not Madonna’s brother.
thank´s to Chris for write a book, thath realize to many of us thaht, ]Madonna is as human as anyone, whit up’s and downs she es real, shes great. one advice, talk to her and hold her, after all she´s your sister
Hi,
I believe he needs to work out his own issues first before writing this book about Madonna. This feels like a stabbing in the back.
xxx
Deronda
Nice interview.
I still question WHY Christopher wrote the book. Money, and to ease his internal mental pain, is all I can up with.
Couldn’t Christopher write whatever he needed to, without having it published?
It seems to me, Christopher should have written what he needed to, sent it to entire family for them to digest, thus opening the lines of communication. Not matter what anyone says, it’s never okay to hurt your family by airing their dirty laundry.
NEVER.
Then again, considering the timing, it could be nothing more than a publicity stunt with Madonna’s approval. Plus a paycheck and press tour for Christopher.
We’ll never know for sure what Christopher’s motives are.
I have been to every Madonna tour so, I feel I have to say, Christopher’s direction of The Girlie Show was outstanding! Very well put together and in my opinion, her best show to date.
Honestly, I have to admit, I had a bit of a crush for Christopher back then.
I’d be much happier if they (Madonna and Christopher), would work out their problems, IN PRIVATE, and have Christopher back directing. I find Jamie King’s direction very dark and limited.
I hope it doesn’t take a tragic family event to reunite their family.
Good luck and best wishes to the entire Ciccone/Richie families.
quite frankly; I don’t buy it, ok so you have family issues work them out in private with your sister, and please stop whining about the fact that Madonna is tearing up the family, YOU decided to put your family in this situation what would you expect? Your mentioning that Madonna should act as normal human being as the rest of us is just stupid, because she actually isn’t anymore, we the people make our icons/heroes/stars or whatever that way, I want Madonna the superstar, icon, queen of pop, not Madonna the housewive sipping tea, she very may lead that life at home but that’s her life, her PRIVATE life, either way you wanted to make a quick buck selling out like this, because that’s what it is; selling out, you are what you are because of and only because of your are the brother of…..this book proves and states it once and for alltime. On the subject of facelifts I don’t even wanna start; are you ready to be in the spotlight like this Chris? a little training yourself and a lift would’t harm, man! you’ve grown into a bitter old fat man, and could you please stop plucking your eyebrows? you’ll end up with none if you go on like this. So get your own life and stop writing about others. R
Christopher, I’ve really enjoyed her most during your creative years with Madonna. I do digg her stuff now but there was something more where you we’re involved with her artistry.
31yrs.
Great site and interview! I don’t believe Christopher. I think when you’re with a “star” (or, to a Madonna fan, the next best thing), you tend to empathize more. But the cold, hard fact is he did the book for cold, hard cash, he, too, “sold out” their mom by using images of her in the book knowing the only interest in seeing her was as Madonna’s fabled late mother and DUH he wrote a book about Madonna masquerading as a book about himself in which he picks part her marriage, explicitly says he suspects she adopted David to “keep up with Angelina Jolie” and revealed many other personal, intimate things that fans don’t need to know about. Had he written a book that focused a lot on his contributions to her work (which are minuscule…) and avoided anything too personal and not used the book to critique who his sister is as a human being, I would be on his side. Except it’s also badly written by a hack writer, not by Christopher, so I suppose I’d be on his side in spirit but still rolling my eyes at the workmanlike prose…
To be fair, there wasn’t really anything in the book that we didn’t know already. Madonna’s cold, a bitch, a diva, demanding, ruthless, determined, egotistical and probably not a nice person at all… Nothing new. I don’t buy that this was about Christophers catharsis at all; it’s about money and revenge and his bruised ego. He clearly LOVED the kudos of being close to her. (Though her most inventive tours had his involvement). There’s nothing awful in it however, but I’d be pissed off if I was Madonna. As for her forgiving him, Kabbalah teaches forgiveness surely…
I don’t think he did it for the money, he could’ve done this A LONG TIME AGO people. I kind of sympathize with him, just admitting how stupid he was to go crawling back whenever she called. The only thing I don’t like is her plastic surgery, they really f’ed her up; those high cheeks, what are they? implants??? everything else is part of the game, oh and how she doesn’t financially help her family, except for the druggie brother, I wouldn’t help them either.
I have read the book and I must say. I was really disappointment. It makes him look so bad in so many ways. So what is she is self-centred you would be to if you had grabbing hands grabbing from you everyday. However regarding Christopher he just sound like a drug addict, having one in the family it is so easy to spot the attitude towards the drugs and how he constantly talks in the book about it. We all know people in high power position have access to everything and anything. We all are aware that we can buy and do anything when you are super star. I find it distasteful and let’s face it. It is only his point of view. (She said he Said) There are always 3 sides to the story. His/hers and the true. He sounds like he is a spoiled little child that wants everything his sister gets. Not to mention the jealousy of him not to exist in the spotlight. What was his motive for this book? His sister did not want to give some money for a condo or something like that. So he got his revenge by writhing a book about it. Nevertheless. I have found the book a good entertaining read like a trash magazine but longer. Christopher, if I was you I would just accept the fact that you are not your sister and never will be. You should love her for what she is and if you can then leave her along and go separate ways. Oh I forgot you got use to be pamper by everyone. The envy and the spotlight that you have for your sister is reflecting on your own ego. We all like gossip and good entertainment, but leave the private life to her. How would you like if someone wrote a book about you and most everything in it was over the top or not even true. Ooops I forgot you probably would like being in the spotlight. Just like you said in your book being on the front page of a trash magazine made you feel important. It is kind of sad that coming from someone that have study Kabbalah that being on a trash Magazine would make you feel important. Don’t you ant to be recognised for something you have accomplished in your life, or do you just want to be a Paris Hilton with no goals in life.