for years he had lived under a bridge – Corriere.it

Anthony Cicconethe older brother of MadonnaAnd died Friday at age 66. To announce the disappearance was the musician Joe Henry, husband of Melanie Ciccone, one of the pop star’s sisters.

Anthony battled for a long time with thealcoholism and drug addiction which they had brought him to live under a bridge of Traverse City, Michigan for several years. An extreme situation that had alienated him from his family until 2017, when after a long process of rehabilitation (which he initially opposed: “My family thinks that rehabilitation is a kind of magic”) he returned home.

Anthony Ciccone had publicly attacked Madonna several times, and also the rest of the family, for not helping him in his dark years. “I’m a zero in their eyes, I’m just a source of embarrassment. I froze almost to death, but my family didn’t care for months – he said in 2011, as reported by the Daily Mail -. My father would be happy if I died of hypothermia, so you wouldn’t have to worry about me anymore. Madonna? I never loved her and she never loved me.”

Anthony, one of the seven brothers of the pop star (along with Mario, Melanie, Christopher, Paula, Jennifer and Martin), son of Tony Ciccone and Madonna Louise Ciccone, who died at the age of 33 in 1963 due to breast cancer, had worked on the family wine estate, Ciccone Vineyard, before being fired and living homeless.

“Why is my sister a millionaire and I live on the street? It can happen to anyone, never say never. According to the Daily Mail, the pop star knew about her brother’s situation and she allegedly offered to help, a ‘offer rejected by Anthony Ciccone: «I don’t want them to give me alms because I’m Madonna’s brother, I’m not looking for publicity».

In 2013 he was also arrested for trespassing, suffering a deep head wound following a fight with a policeman.