Madonna's older brother is homeless and living under a bridge in Michigan, where he collects bottles and cans as he braces for the coming winter.
Anthony Ciccone, 55, said he’s been homeless for a year and a half since losing a job at his father’s vineyard and winery in Suttons Bay. He's grown weary of people expressing amusement that someone with such a wealthy sister would sleep under the Union St. bridge.
“My family turned their back on me, basically, when I was having a hard time,” Ciccone told the Michigan Messenger. “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,” he said. “This could happen to anybody.”
According to the Daily Mail, Ciccone Vineyard is run by the siblings' father, Tony, 80. Anthony Ciccone, the second of eight children, had a job in sales for the company.
Ciccone told the paper he lives in Traverse City because the town of 14,000 treats the homeless well.
“This is a unique system with the churches here,” Ciccone said as he ate a roast beef dinner served by volunteers at the Faith Reform Church. “You won’t find this in too many places.”
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He is not looking forward to the coming season. Last winter, his first on the street, Ciccone said didn't fare well.
“I got frostbite on my feet last winter, Ciccone said. “A friend of mine lost all ten toes. Several have died of hypothermia.”
