Pop icon Madonna opens up about the profound impact of losing her mother at age 5 in the new Sky documentary "Becoming Madonna." Her mother, Madonna Louise Ciccone, died in 1963 at age 30 from breast cancer.
"What happened when I was five years old, it was just the greatest event of my life," the singer reveals in archival footage. "It was like a part of my heart was ripped out."
The 66-year-old superstar shares intimate memories of her mother, describing her as "beautiful and sweet and a hard worker." However, processing the loss as a young child proved overwhelming. "I was forced to grow up fast and understand my mother's death. It was too much for a child I think," Madonna reflects, noting the profound "emptiness" that followed.
Her late brother Christopher Ciccone, who passed away in October 2024, discusses in the documentary how their mother's death reshaped family dynamics. He reveals their father placed additional responsibility on Madonna as the eldest daughter who shared their mother's name.
During her recent Celebration Tour, Madonna incorporated touching tributes to her mother, performing "Mother and Father" while gazing at a black-and-white photo of her mom projected on screen. In a poignant Mother's Day Instagram post, she recalled their final goodbye: "I stepped into the station wagon and shut the door not knowing it was the last time I'd see her."
The documentary also reveals that no one explained her mother's illness to young Madonna at the time. "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," she shares, adding this experience impacted her relationship with sleep throughout her life.
"Becoming Madonna" is currently streaming on Sky Documentaries, offering viewers an intimate look at how this early loss shaped one of music's most influential artists.