14 DAY TRIAL // Madonna’s brother, Anthony Ciccone, has not been in contact with her for years. For the past several years, he’s also been estranged from the rest of his family and living on the streets of Michigan. Anthony is an alcoholic but he blames his sister and the rest of his family for his situation.
Speaking with the Daily Mail, Ciccone says he doesn’t believe his drinking is the problem, because the love he never got from his family is.
He seems to be blaming Madonna the most. Perhaps reports of last week that she’d passed the $1 billion (€781.7 million) mark in earnings has something to do with that.
“Madonna doesn’t give a [expletive] if I’m dead or alive. She lives in her own world. I never loved her in the first place, she never loved me. We never loved each other,” Mr. Ciccone says for the British tab.
The Mail got a first interview with him 2 years ago: the latest is a follow-up story to see if anything has changed.
He’s still homeless, still drinking heavily but his health has deteriorated, and the tab writes that the family fears he might not make it through another winter.
He, on the other hand, thinks they’d be happy to be rid of him.
“My father would be very happy if I died of hypothermia and then he would not have to worry about it anymore. He’s old school, he grew up in the depression,” he says.
“He doesn’t want to be bothered, he’s lived his life you see. He doesn’t like me. He doesn’t want me to be me, he wants me to be somebody else. He thinks the way I live is intentional. He simply doesn’t know me,” Mr. Ciccone adds.
Sources close to his family deny his story, saying he’s welcome back at home. He can also work on the family vineyard if he wants to. The only condition is that he stops drinking, which is hard to do since he doesn’t even think he has a problem.
“I’m a human being, you can call me what you want,” Mr. Ciccone says when asked why he doesn’t go to rehab.
“[Alcoholic] is a label, I don’t like it. I don’t need brain surgery, I merely need love and care of family and friends,” he adds.
Neither back in 2011 nor now has Madonna addressed the allegations made by her estranged brother.