Madonna pays tribute to deceased brother and mother with a grave visit

Madonna has paid tribute to her late brother, Christopher Ciccone, with a visit to his grave with her daughter Lourdes.

Her brother – who was an artist, dancer and designer – died earlier this month at the age of 63 in Michigan after being diagnosed with cancer.

The American pop superstar, 66, posted photos to her Instagram Story, including one of Ciccone’s green marble gravestones, with the text ‘homecoming’ next to it.

She also visited the grave of her mother, Madonna Fortin Ciccone, who died in 1963 at the age of 30 after a breast cancer diagnosis when the singer was five years old.

The Material Girl singer shared a photo of herself kneeling next to a grave while wearing a pink and navy blue scarf around her head and black sunglasses, as well as an image of red roses lying on the ground.

Her daughter Lourdes, 28, also posed for a photo with her grandmother’s gravestone while holding red flowers.

In another emotional black-and-white archival clip, the Grammy winner is seen kneeling at her mother’s grave as her brother looks on, with the caption: “Life is a circle.”

In the video she says: “I wonder what she looks like now, just a pile of dust, I’m going to get in here, you’re going to bury me sideways.”

Madonna collaborated with her brother over the years, appearing in her music videos such as Lucky Star, art directing her Blond Ambition World Tour and serving as tour director for The Girlie Show tour.

After his death, she said he was “the closest to me for so long” in a tribute on Instagram.

Ciccone fell out with his sister in 2008, following the release of the best-selling autobiography Life With My Sister Madonna, in which he wrote about their strained relationship, her romantic entanglements and memories of his time on tour with her.

Speaking about mending their disagreement prior to Ciccone’s death, Madonna added in her social media tribute that the past few years had “not been easy” as they did not speak for a while but reconnected after he fell ill became.

She added: “I did my best to keep him alive as long as possible. By the end he was in so much pain that we once again held hands, closed our eyes and danced together.

“I’m glad he doesn’t suffer anymore, there will never be anyone like him. I know he’s dancing somewhere.’

During his career, Ciccone also directed music videos for Dolly Parton and Tony Bennett, and was an interior designer for her homes in New York, Miami and Los Angeles.