Madonna's homeless brother is not her tell-all brother
But Madonna's homeless brother is older sibling Anthony; the one who wrote the tell-all memoir "Life With My Sister Madonna" is younger brother Christopher. So it's Christopher who's due royalties, should you be compelled to buy his book, and the purchase won't help poor Anthony at all.
He could use a hand. He tries to avoid frostbite living on the streets in Traverse City, he tells the Michigan Messenger.
Ciccone said hes been among the citys homeless for a year and a half since losing a job at his fathers vineyard and winery in Suttons Bay. He said that it annoys him that some people are amused that a person from such a high profile family would end up sleeping, as he does, under the Union St. bridge.
My family turned their back on me, basically, when I was having a hard time, he said. You think I havent answered this kind of question a bazillion times why my sister is a multibazillionarie, and Im homeless on the street?
Never say never, he said. This could happen to anybody.
Madonna's parents had six children; she was the third. Some of her siblings have worked in the entertainment industry like their famous sister. Christopher worked on Madonna's tours and vidoes, and has also been an interior designer.
In 2009, after his book "Life With My Sister Madonna" ! had been published, Chelsea Handler had Christopher Ciccone on her show. "Is she close with anyone else in your family? Does she give your father money?" she asked. "Does she help him financially?" "No, no" Ciccone replied. "She gives him tickets to the show, stuff like that."
Meanwhile, Anthony is still on the streets in Michigan, and it's getting cold there. Maybe Christopher could help him out.
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-- Carolyn Kellogg
Photo: Madonna with brother Christopher Ciccone in 1997, at the Disney Golden Globes after party; Madonna had just won for her performance in "Evita." Credit: Gary Friedman/Los Angeles Times