Madonna’s Stepmother Joan Ciccone Dead at 81 After Cancer Battle
Madonna’s family members are mourning the loss of a loved one.
The "Material Girl" singer's stepmother Joan Ciccone died Sept. 24 after a brief battle with cancer, her obituary confirmed. She was 81.
"She will be terribly missed by her family and friends," the obituary continued, "whose lives she enriched with her enthusiasm, joy and love."
Madonna's mother, also named Madonna, died of breast cancer in 1963 at the age of 30 when the singer was 5. Her father Tony Ciccone—who shared kids Anthony, Martin, Paula, Christopher and Melanie with his first wife—married Joan in 1966. The couple welcomed their daughter Jennifer in 1968 and son Mario in 1969.
E! News has reached out to Madonna's reps for comment and has not yet heard back.
The "Like a Virgin" singer previously shared insight into her complicated relationship with her stepmother.
"I was almost 9 when my dad remarried," she said on The Howard Stern Radio Show in 2015. "We were really shocked by it because we were still mourning and grieving my mother's death, which my father never spoke about."
Madonna—who is mom to Lourdes Leon, 27, Rocco Ritchie, 24, David Banda, 18, Mercy James, 18, and twins Stella and Estere, 11—also noted how growing up, she stepped up to take care of her siblings, which contributed to her not having a normal teenage social life.
"I didn't have a mother," she continued. "I was the eldest daughter, so I had a lot of responsibilities. I wasn't allowed a lot of free time in my life."
The 66-year-old also shared how the death of her mother may have influenced her rebellious nature.
"That probably had a lot to do with it, because it wasn't like my mother was saying, 'You shouldn't behave that way," she told Rolling Stone later that year. "I had a father, I had older brothers. I did have a stepmother, but I didn't have any relationship with her. So there was no role model for me."
Madonna shared that although Joan did try to develop a relationship with her growing up, it was hard for her to process.
"Truthfully, I didn't accept my stepmother when I was growing up," she reflected on Larry King Live in 2002. In retrospect, I think I was really hard on her. I didn't want to accept change in my life."
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