Inside Madonna and her late brother Christopher Ciccone's strained relationship

On Sunday it was announced that Madonna's brother, Christopher Ciccone, died at the age of 63 .

The news came days after the death of the siblings' stepmother , Joan Clare Ciccone, who died after a battle with cancer . Madonna also lost her older brother Anthony Ciccone last February.

Madonna and Christopher were very close but then went through a rough patch before eventually re-establishing contact while choosing to keep their distance. Let's take a look at their relationship over the years.

• Madonna's brother Christopher Ciccone dies at 63, days after stepmom's death
• Madonna's stepmother Joan Ciccone dies 'peacefully' after cancer battle

The siblings were close growing up in Michigan and would practice dancing together. Christopher followed his older sister to New York as she chased her dream of becoming a star.

Madonna's career took off and Christopher became her personal assistant, stylist and tour director. He was the art director for the singer's 1990 Blonde Ambition world tour.

Then the drama started in 2001 when Christopher found out that Madonna hired someone else to be the tour director for her Drowned World Tour. Around that time, Madonna married Guy Ritchie, which Christopher said was the "death knell for my relationship with her."

In an interview with The Guardian, Christopher said: "From the moment I found out that I wasn't doing Drowned World, to her and Guy's wedding, everything became a bit of a blur, a dark, fairly negative period of time for me."

The straw that broke the camel's back was when Madonna accused Christopher of stealing from her. The siblings' relationship disinegrated, and in 2008 Christopher released a tell-all memoir titled My Life with My Sister Madonna.

Christopher's book slammed his older sister calling her selfish, dominating, and a mean tyrant. He also claimed she outed him on live TV and refused to financially help their elderly grandmother.

But the two seemed to reconcile their relationship. In 2012, Christopher told the Evening Standard that he and Madonna are "on a perfectly personable level right now." He added: "As far as I’m concerned, we’re good."

"We are in contact with each other, although I haven’t seen her for a long time," Christopher continued, "We’re back to being a brother and sister. I don’t work for her, and it’s better this way."

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