Yahoo News Madonna Visited Brother Anthony in Rehab Before His Death and 'Supported Him in Every Way': Source
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Madonna did her best to be a pillar of support for her older brother Anthony Ciccone, and visited him shortly before his death earlier this month.
A source tells PEOPLE that the "Like a Prayer" singer, 64, and her family — which includes six other siblings — had a complicated relationship with Anthony due to his longstanding struggles with addiction, but were supportive in his final months.
"They were all there for him and despite being estranged, Madonna supported him in every way she could when he was willing to take the support," the insider says. "Family members including Madonna visited him while in his rehab facility as he declined these past few months."
Anthony, 66, died in Suttons Bay, Michigan on Feb. 24, according to his obituary. He is described as an "insatiable reader" and "a deep lover of music with a wanderer's spirit" in the obituary, which also details his troubles and notes him as being "troubled and distant from his own, valued family."
"Though a loner ––isolated throughout much of his adult life by the addiction that contributed to his early demise–– he was nonetheless enlivened by community and a sense of belonging," it reads.
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Madonna paid tribute to her brother in an Instagram Story after his death that featured the pair posing for a black-and-white photo in the 1980s alongside their siblings.
"Thank you for blowing my mind as a young girl," she wrote, adding: "You planted many important seeds."
The pop star credited Anthony with introducing her to Charlie Parker, Miles Davis, Buddhism, Taoism, Charles Bukowski, Richard Brautigan, Jack Kerouac and expansive thinking.
In 2011, Anthony said he was "homeless on the street" and living under a bridge in their native Michigan. Their brother Christopher Ciccone told The Mirror in 2017 that Anthony was "back home" and "recovering" after spending time in a treatment center.
madonna/instagram
His death was announced by brother-in-law Joe Henry, who is married to Madonna's sister Melanie.
"My brother-in-law, Anthony Gerard Ciccone, exited this earthly plane last evening," he wrote in the caption. "I've known him since I was 15, in the spring of our lives in Michigan so many years now gone. As brother Dave Henry (who took this photograph) notes here, Anthony was a complex character; and god knows: we tangled in moments, as true brothers can."
"But I loved him, and understood him better than I was sometimes willing to let on," he continued. "But trouble fades; and family remains— with hands reached across the table. Farewell, then, brother Anthony. I want to think the god your blessed mother (and mine) believed in has her there, waiting to receive you. At least for today, no one shall dissuade me from this vision."
He is survived by his son Angelo Lawson-Smith, according to the obituary.
