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

Madonna paid tribute to her late brother Christopher Ciccone by visiting his grave with her daughter Lourdes.

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

The 66-year-old American pop star posted photos on her Instagram Story, including one of Ciccone’s green marble tombstone, writing “coming home” next to it.

She also visited the grave of her mother, Madonna Fortin Ciccone, who died in 1963 at the age of 30 after being diagnosed with breast cancer when the singer was five.

The Material Girl singer shared a photo of herself kneeling by a grave, wearing a pink and navy blue scarf and black sunglasses, as well as a photo of red roses lying on the ground.

Her 28-year-old daughter Lourdes also posed for a photo with her grandmother’s tombstone, holding red flowers in her hand.

In another emotional black-and-white archival clip, the Grammy winner kneels at her mother’s grave while her brother looks on, which she captioned: “Life is a circle.”

In the recording he says: “I wonder what she looks like now, she’s just a pile of dust, I’ll come in here and you’ll bury me sideways.”

Madonna has collaborated with her brother over the years, who has appeared in her music videos such as Lucky Star, directed the artwork for her Blond Ambition World Tour and served as tour director for The Girlie Show.

After his death, she wrote in a tribute on Instagram that he was “the closest person to me for such a long time.”

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

Speaking about repairing their misunderstanding before Ciccone’s death, Madonna added in her social media tribute post that the last few years “haven’t been easy” as they haven’t spoken to each other for some time, but reconnected when he fell ill.

She added: “I did everything I could to keep him alive as long as possible. At the end he was in a lot of pain, we held hands again, closed our eyes and danced together.

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

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