Madonna's Brother Is Homeless, Lives Under A Bridge - Crushable

A recent article in The Michigan Messenger about the homeless population in Traverse City, MI uncovered a strange and sad piece of celebrity gossip: Madonna's brother, Anthony Ciccone, has been homeless for over a year now, despite having one of the wealthiest entertainers in the world for a sister. According to him, he became homeless after losing his job at his father's winery a little over a year ago. I guess nobody told him that the proper back-up plan for a celebrity sibling is to be a DJ. The dirt and scruff would only add to his "downtown" authenticity!

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

He goes on to describe the effects of hypothermia on the human body, which sound pretty awful. There's even a picture of his sad, nerve-damaged toes.

I'm sure there's more going on here than meets the eye; you have to screw up pretty badly to get fired from your own family's winery, and that line about "having a hard time" seems like it could be a euphemism for "having a hard time with alcohol/drug addiction." But still! It would cost Madonna almost nothing from her perspective to make sure the guy doesn't freeze to death, so why won't she do that? She could get him a little apartment with heat, and maybe some grocery store gift cards, and that would pretty much ensure he didn't die while he was figuring out his substance abuse problems. Conversely, she could pay for rehab. She's put another of her brothers through rehab in the past, but seemed to cut him off after one or two tries. I know I'm not privy to the inner workings of the Ciccone family, but barring some serious abuse when she was a child, I'm not sure what her brother could have possibly done that was so terrible she no longer feels obligated to care whether he lives or dies.

I will post an update if Madonna's reps respond to this story.

(Via Rolling Stone)