For years, Madonna’s younger brother was one of her closest confidantes. He was a background dancer on her first UK TV appearance, and later become her tour director.
But they fell out when Madonna appointed a different director – the choreographer Jamie King – for her Drowned World tour. Things got worse when Christopher wrote a tell-all book, Life With My Sister Madonna, in 2008.
The star has previously said that “for a really long time” she had perceived Christopher as one of her “biggest enemies” – but they reconciled before his death.
“It was him being ill and reaching out to me and saying, ‘I need your help’,” she told the podcast host Jay Shetty last year.
“I felt so relieved. It was such a load off my back, such a weight that was removed, baggage that I could put down to finally be able to be in a room with him and holding his hand even if he was dying and saying, ‘I love you and I forgive you.'”
Speaking to Norton, Madonna said she had written Fragile after Christopher called her in the studio.
“He was in a lot of pain, on the phone, and he was not in a good place. I knew it was close to the end. And then I went upstairs and wrote a song.”
Called Fragile, it looks back to their childhood and makes the promise: “We’ll find each other on the other side.”
“It’s cathartic,” she said of the song. “To let go of somebody you love, the best way to do it is to write about it. It’s like an exorcism.”
