Madonna's Brother Dead at 66

Madonna's older brother, Anthony Ciccone, died Friday night at age 66, according to a relative. Ciccone's brother-in-law, Joe Henry, announced the news on Instagram alongside a photo of Ciccone, who, he said, had "exited this earthly plane." No cause of death for Ciccone, who was one of seven siblings Madonna has, has been revealed, the BBC reports. Henry, who is married to Madonna's sister Melanie Ciccone, said of Anthony Ciccone, "I've known him since I was 15, in the spring of our lives in Michigan so many years now gone." Ciccone had struggled with alcoholism and reportedly spent years homeless. USA Today reports that Madonna liked, but did not comment on, Henry's post.

"Anthony was a complex character; and god knows: we tangled in moments, as true brothers can," Henry wrote in his post. "But I loved him, and understood him better than I was sometimes willing to let on. But trouble fades; and family remains—with hands reached across the table." Madonna's family lived in Detroit, and Anthony Ciccone stayed in Michigan while his soon-to-be-famous older sister moved to New York to pursue stardom. Their mother had died of breast cancer in 1963, when her children were young. While Anthony Ciccone had accused his family of abandoning him in the past, it was reported in 2017 that he was out of rehab and had repaired some of those relationships. (More Madonna stories.)