Madonna's brother "Homeless"

[Shireling]

Madonna's brother living homeless under Traverse City bridge
Susan Whitall/ The Detroit News

Michigan-born superstar Madonna's older brother Anthony Ciccone, 55, is homeless and living under a bridge in Traverse City.

In a story in the Michigan Messenger detailing how the northern Michigan city is a magnet for the homeless, Ciccone is quoted as saying he lost his job at his father's Suttons Bay winery more than a year ago, and had been living on the street ever since.

"My family turned their back on me, basically, when I was having a hard time," Ciccone told the Messenger. "You think I haven't answered this kind of question a bazillion times — why my sister is a multibazillionaire, and I'm homeless on the street? Never say never. This could happen to anybody."

Ciccone said he benefited from the generous nightly meal programs and shelters at Traverse City churches, and collected bottles and cans for money, although he suffered frostbite in the northern city's harsh winters.



From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20111022/ENT09/110220380/Madonna’s-brother-living-homeless-under-Traverse-City-bridge#ixzz1c1Hocn4z

[kestrel91316]

1. Maybe he's to blame. Maybe she's to blame. Maybe they both are.

:shrug:

[pnwmom]

2. A whole family has done that for no reason at all? Maybe.

Or maybe there's more to this story than he wishes to share.

[Seedersandleechers]

3. I'm guessing

"tough love". Why else would you get fired from your own Dad's winery? He might have addiction problems he won't deal with.

[polichick]

4. Who knows? Maybe help came with strings attached that he didn't like.

[Shireling]

5. It's true

He could have alcohol, drug problems, etc. That is what is assumed causes most homelessness. Or maybe he is hard to get along with.

But sometimes families must have scapegoats.

Whether he is in the wrong or not, there is something terribly wrong when allowing someone you know to suffer and possible die on the streets, especially when having so much money.

[lucca18]

26. I agree....

She needs to help her brother. He is suffering and probably incapable of making a decision about his problem or situation. Surely Madonna can do "something".

[OneGrassRoot]

29. Really. She should refurbish a building to create an entire apartment complex...

Do something constructive for the many in that area by creating transitional housing and/or low-income housing, not just for her brother, in case she fears she's enabling him or something.

She could afford to do that.

Who knows the reason, but I agree that, given her wealth, she absolutely should do SOMETHING. How can she not?

:(


edit for typo

[KansDem]

6. Similar story with Barry Cowsill...

It is with deep sadness that we report that the search for Barry has ended. No longer is Barry missing. His body was found under a wharf in New Orleans in late December 2005 and identified via dental records on January 4th, 2006. The coroner has determined the cause of death to be drowning in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Barry is survived by his siblings, two daughters, one son and two grandsons as well as a step-daughter and two step-granddaughters.

Cowsills.com

I didn't know who the Cowsills were until my wife, a past fan of theirs, told me about Barry's descent into homelessness and death due to Hurricane Katrina.

I don't know how someone with fame and fortune could descend to penniless drifter, but it could happen to any one of us.

[MADem]

7. Fathers do not turn their backs on sons who are having a hard time.

Something else is going on there. Did he steal? Were drugs involved? Is he unwilling to go to rehab (no, no, no)?

[Shireling]

8. Good father's don't

Did he have a good father?

I don't know, but like I said, even if this is truly a loving family, how is allowing your son/brother to possily die on the streets any kind of love?

[MADem]

10. I can't believe he had a bad father AND a bad sister. He'd have been in the news long before now.

His father obviously, from what little we know, liked him well enough to employ him at his winery. He's the older brother, 56 or so, so there's got to be some major issue that has come to the fore here, not a longstanding dislike.

He's not dying on the streets. He's getting hot meals (roast beef, too) courtesy of the churches who put on good feeds for the homeless, and likely welfare or some sort of disability payment--he's simply living rough right now. And I'm thinking that's his choice, because he doesn't want to get some help that he likely needs.

Sometimes tough love IS true love--it's not easy to stand by and watch someone hit bottom after you've asked them to get help.

And just maybe the unloving SOB is himself...!

[HereSince1628]

9. I'm glad for you and your family but that's not quite accurate

Father's and mothers and sisters and brothers and daughters and sons and cousins and grandparents etc etc etc turn their backs on sons (and daughters and spouses and sisters and brothers and parents etc etc etc.)

Happens all the time. Especially when the family member being abandoned has a seriously challenging mental health problem that exhausts and alienates family caregivers.

[MADem]

11. Well, implied but not spoken in my commentary was "without a damn good reason."

If they've practiced the tough love -- get to rehab, fix that problem, take your meds--and the guy refuses, there isn't much more that you can do, save watch the fall. That's not "turning your back," really--the loved one is welcome to come back to the fold, if they can behave appropriately and get the help they need to be a reasonable member of the family.

[MedicalAdmin]

16. This happens alot.

Families turn their backs.

There are many in my wife's family who won't talk to her, and she is such an amazingly warm and loving woman. But she doesn't put up with bullshit or let others get away with anything. She isn't mean about it, but she also calls it. She has, among other things, a counseling background, so she is very good at getting her point across gently.

And I could site many other examples. I think the point you are responding to, with a small additions, is a valid one, to wit: decent and responsible fathers don't turn their backs on their children. Unfortunately there is sometimes a dearth of those.

[roguevalley]

15. they don't even have to sweat the small stuff. Get a trustee and give

him a stipend. That will keep him out of the ditch. Madonna has an obligation to her BROTHER. I have such a hard time with my brother but he will NEVER sleep in a culvert as long as I'm alive. Jeezus. She can do it through intermediaries. What a cold hearted person she is.

[MADem]

20. Maybe he doesn't want the stipend. Maybe he's getting it and spending it on something else.

When they grow up (and he's in his mid fifties) you can't control them. You can't make them take money from you, you can't make them live with you. Lots of times they do things you don't want them to do. For all you know he could have a place to live, but he's paranoid and thinks it's bugged or something. He's the one who 'says' he is homeless, this is all self-reporting.

You have no idea how mean or nice Madonna or her father is. For all we know, the reason he's eating roast beef at church instead of beans and rice could be because of her or her father's anonymous generosity.

I don't know the circumstances, but I'm not going to pile on without knowing. I'm not a particular Madonna fan either--I found that fake accent in her "london" phase noxious, and I don't like the way she collects children like they are puppies. So I am not doing the rabid fan routine, I just think that since we don't know, we shouldn't assume the worst, just because she's a former celebrity--the kids think she's a hundred years old, poor dear.

It's a sad situation, but he's not alone. There are a lot of people out there in that same fix.

[denverbill]

12. I don't care how big of a ass this guy is, Madonna can afford to keep him.

For Pete's sake give him a house and a $50K/year stipend. Houses are cheap in Michigan. Do your part for the homeless. He's your own flesh and blood.

[valerief]

14. Exactly what I was thinking. So if he buys drugs with the money, so what? nt

[Donny]

24. My bottom line too.

She could at least keep her brother off the street - is that too much to ask no matter how you think he's led his life?

I don't know what to think because this is all hearsay. I just think she could afford to keep a roof over his head and a meal in his stomach.

Edited for being drunk.

[MADem]

28. He refuses her help--his words.

But while providing him with financial help would barely scratch 53-year-old Madonna’s £400million-plus fortune, he is adamant that he wants none of her money – whether it is offered or not.
‘I’m not looking to get a free handout because of my sister,’ he said. ‘I’m not looking for any publicity.’ He instead relies on the generosity of soup kitchens run by local churches for food.
Mr Ciccone, who claimed he once worked in Alaska’s fishing industry and as a photographer’s assistant in New York, now makes a few dollars doing odd jobs and collecting bottles and cans from people’s dustbins.

....Although the star reportedly paid for some of his rehab treatment, she did not invite him to her 2000 wedding to Guy Ritchie, supposedly worried that he would sell his story to the media.
Anthony has refused to say how he ended up destitute but local people describe him as ‘friendly’ and ‘coherent’, showing no signs of any drink or drug problems.

Madonna has not commented on Anthony, while their father also declined to discuss him yesterday.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2053026/Madonnas-big-brother-Anthony-Ciccone-sleeping-rough-river-bridge.html#ixzz1c2qfDBJ5

[valerief]

13. Strange, because Madonna seems so compassionate.

:sarcasm:

[LuvNewcastle]

18. That's the vibe I get, too.

Every time I see her interviewed, I sense nothing but selfishness.

[rocktivity]

17. Madonna may be running out of bazillions

and even if she isn't, what her brother offering to do to earn them? Also, did he DESERVE to lose that winery job?

:shrug:
rocktivity

[valerief]

25. Why does he have to earn anything? Children of billionaires don't have to earn anything.

And don't bring up Buffett. We know about him. He's an exception.

[MADem]

27. This isn't her child. It's her older brother. nt

[Warpy]

19. If you get fired from a family business and everybody turns their back on you

it's you and not them 99.9% of the time. It means you're a career fuckup who likely stole and spent the money on drugs, gambling or other bullshit. It means you ran out of all the second chances along the way.

I won't say anyone deserves to be homeless. They don't. However, I will say that many people who are cut off from their families are so for very good reasons, lots of them, over many, many years.

I hope he manages to get sober or clean up from any other thing that wrecked his life. I hope he realizes it's not his family's job and it's up to him. I hope he finds a place to live whether he cleans up or not. I just understand why some people are where they are.

[WingDinger]

22. That is a horrendious assumption that I can only assume is personal. Hope you heal.

[Warpy]

23. You know what they say about people who assume

I'm old. I'm old enough to have watched the whole drama over and over again.

Few families are made up of assholes who shun people arbitrarily. There's always a reason, either what I cited or some religious wingnuttery. If it's religious wingnuttery in the absence of what I cited, the person usually goes on to live a reasonable life, scars and all.

Ciccone didn't, which is why I suspect something else was going on unless his homelessness is a very recent development after an illustrious corporate career, 55 being the corporate expiration date nobody seems to prepare for.

[SnakeEyes]

21. I'm not going to judge here

Sometimes situations get so bad, someone's problems are so bad, and you've done all you can to try and help but the person is unwilling to be helped. Have to let them hit rock bottom and hope they decide to change.