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Madonna took to Instagram recently to honor her late mother Madonna Ciccone on Mother’s Day. In an emotional post, she reflected on being just five years old when her mother passed away from breast cancer, and how she wasn’t fully aware of the seriousness of her illness at the time.
Madonna shared photos from her recent Celebration tour, where images of her mother were prominently displayed on stage each night. She recalled staring up at her mother’s face and wondering what she must have been thinking in her final days. “I stepped into the station wagon and shut the door not knowing it was the last time I’d see her,” Madonna wrote. “Nobody told me my mother was dying – I just watched her disintegrate mysteriously and then she disappeared and there was no explanation except that she had gone to sleep which explains.”
Madonna Louise Ciccone lost her battle with breast cancer in 1963 at only 30 years old, leaving a young Madonna without a mother. The singer spoke of addressing her mother each night on stage – saying hello, goodbye, thank you, and asking for protection and sanity. Even at 65, Madonna still feels the impact of losing her mother at such a formative age.
Madonna is now a mother of six children and highlighted the comfort of having all of them together recently. She became close with her kids while touring, as they helped her dreams come to life through their support both on and off stage.
