Life with My Sister Madonna
by Christopher Ciccone, Wendy Leigh
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Book Reviews of Life with My Sister Madonna
Book Review: now i see why madonna doesn't want us to read this book!!
Summary: 5 Stars
finished the book in 1 day...terrific read! christopher in no way trashes her, so her fans can chill out!! he says many positive things about her and is very proud of her success and is thrilled to go with her on her world tours.
now, for the negatives: he also makes it clear that once madonna was on the road to success *starting from when she first got her record deal* she starts treating him like a doormat. she makes it clear, SHE'S the star and he isn't. christopher accepts it and still continues to work for her *he's the only family member that will work for her long-term, other siblings worked on her earlier tours*. she screams at him, cusses at him and severely underpays him. with the pay, i agree with christopher 1000%!! this was business and he had every right to be treated like anyone else doing the same job and who would get the proper pay. *they never have a contract 'til much later after the girlie show and when he's designing her house.* she stiffs him a lot when it comes to the home design where he's spending his own money for supplies, furniture, etc. and then madonna changes her mind and sometimes doesn't pay him at all. after she's with guy ritchie, her attitude towards christopher changes, she no longer trusts his design judgments and is very picky *just like guy* about every little and last detail to the design project. they exchange heated emails and faxes when christopher suggests they have some type of agreement, she refuses. the last fax/email she sends him, 'don't ever contact me again'.
there's also a few madonna myths christopher clears up: 1. she was never a cinderella doing all the chores and taking care of everyone. ALL the ciccone kids had chores, she got special treatment mainly because she was named after their mother and looked like her. 2. she did not go to new york not knowing anyone there, she already had contacts from the shared dance studio in michigan *both her and chris take dance lessons from christopher flynn* that went to new york before her and who hook her up with auditons and places to stay. madonna even worked in paris for 3 months *after she moves to new york*. 3. madonna wasn't always as broke as she's always maintained, when they started getting more gigs *chris was a backup dancer of hers* madonna was making $1000 a night and even got $15,000 to cut 2 songs for sire, everybody and burnin' up.
my personal feelings on this book: i'm very disappointed that madonna chose to exaggerate those parts of her life, i always thought she was someone who told it like it was and was very straightforward. going to new york even in the 70s with only $35 and not knowing a soul there, never really made sense to me. *also chris moves to manhattan shortly after* and also christopher makes it clear once madonna knew she was going to be a star, she treats everyone like their disposable. even family members, that she can speak and demean them as she sees fit. she is very stingy when it comes to money to family and it's no surprise none of the other ciccones will work for her.
i do feel she treated christopher like a doormat and was using him, and in a way i can't blame christopher. when you have a sibling who's a huge superstar it'd be hard not to be a doormat. she's the star and everyone knows it. the theme of this book is to show how madonna is behind closed doors and his overall point that even though she's a star, she still doesn't walk on water. he stood by her from the very beginning, back when she was doing pot and ecstasy in new york before she hit it big, and then when madonna gets together with guy she has no more use for christopher, which leaves him heartbroken.
overall, i don't view this book as a revenge or jealousy book. he makes it clear he never wanted to be a superstar on her level, just wants to branch out on his own talents. *he also goes into detail the many other projects he's done that had nothing to do with her, managing other artists, directing music vids, etc.* he says way more positive things about her than one would expect but just making it clear that madonna can be a huge pain!! so a terrific read, i'm re-reading the book again and hope christopher will turn this into a movie. lol! so, now i see why madonna is threatening networks to not interview her brother, there has to be a reason for it, and it's all in this book!
Book Review: Madonna: She Is What She Is! / Christopher: It Was What It Was!!
Summary: 3 Stars
A lot of the other reviewers have pretty much hit the nail on the head about this book being Christopher Ciccone's
"WOE IS ME!!--I LOVE MY SISTER, BUT I HATE HER!!" journal.
The only thing original I can say is that MADONNA,
love her or hate her, is what she is and that's that!
The very traits of ambition, drive, focus, fearlessness, will, talent, saavy, guts, etc.
are what made her rise from suburban Detroit to the bright lights
/ big city of NYC in the late
70's and early 80's, on to the world stage and the
iconic megastar she became and still is today!
Of course, with all those star-making traits come selfishness, manipulativeness,
control-issues, etc. because everybody has a darkside as well.
Show me a person who is all goodness
and light all the time and I'll show you either a phony or
somebody good at repressing their darker nature and who will
one day explode!
On the otherhand, you have Christopher, her younger brother,
who by his own words, has been a person who has always been subdued,
kind of muddled, middle-of-the-road, and played it safe for most
of his life. It takes a Madonna-type to wake up and bring out a person
like that because left to their own devices, they would never have the guts to live their lives outside the box!
That's what she's been doing to the status quo for the
last 25 years!--Duuhhh!!
Chris's paradox is that the very things he admires and
is deeply attracted to in his older superstar sister
are the very things that he hates in her and yet
helplessly can't tear himself from.
I have seen some of Mr. Ciccone's artwork and he is good,
but Michelangelo ain't got nothing to worry about! (LOL!!)
He probably is a better set designer, artistic director
and interior decorator than a full-on artist!
But the reality is, is that he would have never gotten the
noteriety he has if it were not for his sister!
Instead of him sending $50,000 checks to his ex-lover,
who he broke up with because the ex couldn't deal with the
demands of Madonna's frantic life on Christopher,
who was always a willing participant and would drop everything
as soon as he was summoned to follow her, he should've been
saving all of the many hundreds of thousands of dollars that
have passed through his hands over the years for that inevitable
rainy season when it would all come to an end!
He does, after all, know her and her behavior patterns and
how she can disconnect from someone, blood or no blood,
at the drop of a hat!
And no way would I have spent $65,000 of my own money
for paintings for Madonna with no promise of reimbursement,
given her past history of mercurialness and bitchiness with him!
Truth is, he let himself get played time and time again
because, bottomline, he wanted to be in the spotlight
and to warm himself in the sunshine of Madonna's starpower!
Long story short...we all have a role to play in life,
and that role is based on who we are inside, what we
are willing to accept from ourselves and others,
our own ability to adapt, change and see opportunity and
know what to do when we see it.
Madonna is who she is, and Christopher is who he is...
there's no good, bad, ugly or indifference to it...
it's just the way their lives have played out so far!
It's not too late for Christopher Ciccone to finally get out
from under his sister's shadow and forge his own path to happiness!
He just needs to let go of the anger, the blame game,
and to own his own part in his unhappiness and misery.
He needs to leave those drugs, partying, phony hollywood types, etc.
in the dust and focus on himself. People like Madonna respect those
who stand their ground and will tell them to F--Off sometimes!
Had Christopher not caved in to her so many times,
even when she was a witch with a capital B,
she might have respected him more!
Sean Penn and Guy Ritchie knew when to tell her to go get stuffed!
That's why she couldn't get enough of them!
So to Christopher, I say GROW UP and GROW A PAIR!!
Book Review: A MUST-READ for all my fellow Madonna fanatics!!!
Summary: 4 Stars
Before you judge... READ THE DAMN BOOK! Then make a well rounded critique.
First and foremost, I want to say that I am and always will be a Madonna fan. I have been since grade school and , 2 decades later, I am still captivated by Madonna's glamorous image. I have always loved her music, and still find the woman utterly fascinating. So naturally, this book was screaming for me to read it. I'm very glad I did.
"Life with My Sister Madonna" is a depressing book. Plain and simple. Christopher Ciccone, Madonna's gay younger brother, recollects many moments that he experienced when living, working and partying with his sister Madonna. Some of them good and a lot of them bad. Christopher gives Madonna credit where she is due, but he also reveals a darker side of Madonna that only a close family member can provide. True, the book does come across as being Christopher Ciccone's whiny little pity party however this man was a major asset to Madonna's career from the beginning. Not only did he help launch her career as one of her background dancers, he also dressed her, influenced Madonna's sense of style, directed her tours, and decorated her many homes. In many ways, one could say that Madonna was Christopher Ciccone's ultimate Barbie doll. He maintained a relationship with Madonna closer than most of her other family members, lovers and friends could ever imagine. Christopher Ciccone is THE best insight to the REAL Madonna and you can't deny it.
Christopher tends to state the obvious throughout this book. Yes, Madonna is a career driven, attention junkie with control issues. Trust me, even a hardcore fan such as me understands this and has accepted it. She wouldn't be the world's most famous pop star if she wasn't, right? However, it saddens me to read of how crude Madonna can be with her own family and closest friends. Christopher doesn't paint Madonna out to be this heartless tyrant. He genuinely humanizes Madonna. Even though she is a mega-celebrity, she still deals with issues that we all face in our lives. The need for love, family, and personal fulfillment. In reality Madonna is nothing like the character she has created to entertain us with. Madonna is riddled with insecurities, and apparently not as brave as she would like us all to believe. She sometimes makes brash decisions at the expense of the others. Christopher illustrates this to a morbid degree.
What I find amazing is that chronologically, the same time Madonna and Christopher started becoming estranged, was around the same time that I personally started finding Madonna's music and image irrelevant. (Check out my previous reviews on Madonna's albums. It's very ironic!) She did discovered Kabbalah, had more kids, got married, and started making awful movies and albums like American Life and Swept Away. She started letting her accolades go to her head. She developed some weird love affair with English culture. I felt that Madonna had lost track of her target audience and that he music was boring. I find it way too convenient that this all happened after she got married to Guy Ritchie who Christopher Ciccone accuses of being very homophobic. Is Madonna trying to shed her gay friendly image for the sake of her marriage? I think Christopher Ciccone might have hit the nail on the head here folks.
The one negative comment I can make about this book is the way Christopher Ciccone lightly brushes the subject of his cocaine use. Christopher speaks of partying with notorious cokeheads like Kate Moss and Naomi Campbell in a jovial manner but it seems like he might have issues that he failed to elaborate on. He does explain that Madonna shows a great deal of concern for what he calls his "recreational drug use" and also goes as far as going to psychiatrist to appease her concerns. But I think that there is probably more to this subject that he wants us to know about.
In a perfect world, Madonna would put her ego aside, read this book, and take it as constructive criticism. One would hope that Christopher would let go of all the hurt, make amends with Madonna and try to maintain a friendship with her. Unfortunately, I think they are both set in their ways and "Life With My Sister Madonna" is essentially the exclamation point to their failed relationship.
Book Review: Sad and Depressing Tale
Summary: 4 Stars
I feel so uneasy after finishing this book. Reading all the details of their relationship has left me feeling like a nasty voyeur. I'm a fan of Madonna and have been since I was 14 years old (21 years ago). I've always had the idea that she may be a difficult but I hoped I was wrong. I chose to believe she did what she had to do to gain fame, fortune and notoriety however, in my heart I also chose to believe she was a good person deep down. Well what a slap in the face I got as this book proved me wrong! Madonna is one ego driven, hypocritical narcissist. These 4 words sum her up completely. I cannot believe how cruel, unkind and utterly crazy she was with Christopher.
Why would someone of her wealth begrudge paying her brother a fair wage for his hard work? Not a high wage, I say a FAIR wage? Why would someone of her wealth not be supportive of her family? Telling her sister she could come to the wedding if she paid her own airfare and incidentals? The list goes on and on. When finally Christopher stands up to her and tells her what he thinks she wrongly assumes he's an addict. Wow, someone must be an addict/crazy/mentally ill to disagree with the queen of pop????!!!! Again, Madonna is a hypocrite. Yes he chose to stay and put up with her abuse but in my opinion he was just being there for her. He was hoping she would come around and realize how crazy she was acting. He was in essence giving her the benefit of the doubt but she let him down in a big way. Do I think Christopher made some mistakes along the way? Absolutely, but after reading this book you tell me if you wouldn't have after putting up with the ice queen for all that time!
I enjoyed the book. I'm glad I read the book. This book is not particularly well written (hence 4 stars instead of 5) but I don't think most people read a tell-all for that reason do they? If you want to know who Madonna is read the book. Granted we still don't know her 100% but the main gist is there, and frankly I don't want to know anymore. She's a horrible person! I feel cheated. I'm so sad the woman who gives the best show in town, the hippest music to dance to and a warm fuzzy feeling when I hear her on the radio, is such a cow.
As for Guy Ritchie, I don't feel he's the reason the siblings had a fall out. I think it's difficult for a lot of Americans to understand the British sense of humor (I'm from England) and I think Christopher can't begin to believe Madonna doesn't want to know him anymore just for her own reasons. It's easier for him to blame Guy.
What's sad is this whole situation; their toxic relationship needn't have come to this depressing outcome. They could have had a wonderful time together on the road to Madonna's stardom. Why did she feel the need to power-trip him at every turn? Why couldn't they co-exist and treat each other with respect? She was horrid to him, and truly I thank God Christopher wrote this book. She deserves every single stinging word he wrote. She deserves the pain it will bring her. And honestly she is a fool to be shocked that he wrote it. What did she expect??? Everyone else in her world signed a CDA, and you have to know so many other employees must have felt the way Christopher did but couldn't share their feelings.
I'm really pleased he has turned his life around and that this book is out there for the world to see. In my opinion there's nothing worse than being unkind. It doesn't cost a thing to be a good person and even if you justify it by saying she was under pressure that just doesn't cut it. Madonna went far beyond unkind. Mean, stingy and cruel is just unnecessary and so far from anyone I want to admire. The very last sentence in the book about the nature of family was the icing on the cake for me and a big kick in Madonna's teeth. She doesn't know the meaning of family and that's a shame. For someone who preaches about kabbalah and doing good, and blah, blah, blah from all her deep lyrical musings, she's a fake! She doesn't follow her own advice and yet preaches to the world what we should do when she's screaming abuse at her brother for wanting what's rightfully his?!?! Buy the book if you want to know who Madonna is but be prepared for the empty feeling that will follow as you turn the last page.
Book Review: If you are lazy you will NEVER get her
Summary: 4 Stars
Look, Madonna is a hard worker and very driven. No matter what you think of her music, movies or abilities as an artist/performer/celebrity (it's now an occupation, you know), you have to hand it to her. I hope she never stops because it is so inspiring and motivating to see somebody as aggressive and cut-throat about business and life even though they are securely at the top. That being said, I don't agree with her lifestyle, beliefs and while I LOVE every album she's made from Ray of Light on, most of her music before that makes me cringe. But, even if I hated all of it, I still think her energy level is fascinating and admirable and the world [...] would be better to approach life with similair drive. One thing about Madonna is that she is not a whiner or victim.
So what about the book?
It is a fascinating read, I'm not saying it's literature to write a thesis on, but considering the amount of celebrity garbage scandal-bios and auto-bio's out there, this book stands out in a classy way. Christopher had a difficult balancing act to do between considering what her fans and her critics would think of him, as well as what to reveal about his personal life and feelings. Did he fall? Of course, but anybody with siblings will want to keep reading just because of the sheer cruelty and stupidity that we can inflict upon eachother. If you remember that Madonna is a human being (much as I'm sure she'd rather not be considered - at least not an equal), it really is brother and sister and every family unfortunately has some people that will act up and act on eachother.
The book makes out Madonna to be focused on her career and making money, spiritually insecure, cheap and very self-absorbed - WHICH I WILL ARGUE IS A DESCRIPTION FITTING THE MAJORITY OF THE HUMAN RACE with the exception of the career focus. I know there is more to Madonna than the book potrays, there is more to her than Christopher will know ever know either because there is more to all people than any one book could contain.
Christopher does mention good things about Madonna - I don't think his purpose was to trash her because he could have sold out to more magazines and such for what I bet would be a higher price. But, Christopher has not let go of his victim mentality. From what the audience is told in the book, Madonna does not treat her brother fairly at all times, and while we might think that she should spend her money on all the people Christopher wants her to help out, it isn't a crime not to. Everybody likes to name off what they would do if they were rich, but few carry through with it when they get money. Of course I hope if I had a fortune I would be very generous, but time will tell. No, Madonna hasn't given him a ton of money. He did have to work very hard for what she paid him, BUT she also may have been helping him out to even let him work for her. I don't know. My guess is that she hires whomever she thinks will do the best job for her in order to contintue to make more money. That she didn't want to hire him anymore when she found out he was doing drugs doesn't make her a villan.
The drug part of the book is what is almost comical. I wouldn't want anybody who was doing drugs to be around children nor would I hire them for anything. Drugs are wrong and do alter people. Just because you take them recreationally and don't go through withdrawls if you have a week off from them, doesn't make you or your lifestyle ok - it has become more socially acceptable (esp. around the rich and famous), but it isn't a character trait or a habit I would want to support by hiring a sibling who was using. The thing is, Chris STILL thinks it's ok.
At the end of the book, I really do feel for Chris because he is obviously hurt. I am always saddened when people fight with their siblings instead of forgiving and showering eachother with love. So, they both need to say "I'm sorry."
And the reader would probably be satisfied with just reading this at the local library instead of buying it. If you are a fan of Madonna's you will be disapointed because Chris had an opportunity to mention more behind-the-scenes info of her actual work.