Madonna Recalls Pain of Losing Mom to Cancer When She Was 5 in New Doc: 'Like a Part of My Heart Was Ripped Out'

Mar. 15, 2025

Madonna in 2015.Photo:Ethan Miller/Getty

Ethan Miller/Getty

The death of her mother when she was just 5 years old hitMadonnahard.

In archival clips and audio featured in the new Sky documentaryBecoming Madonna, the Queen of Pop, 66, opens up about how losing her mom — who died in 1963 at the age of 30 after being diagnosed with breast cancer — affected her.

“What happened you know when I was [5] years old, it was just the greatest event of my life,” the singer says of losing her mother, Madonna Louise Ciccone. “It was like a part of my heart was ripped out.”

“I was forced to grow up fast and understand my mother’s death, to understand the psychological, all things that were going on. It was too much for a child I think,” she continues, adding that she felt an “emptiness” afterward.

As for what she remembers about her mom, Madonna says in a separate clip, “She was beautiful and sweet and a hard worker.”

Madonna holding a photo of herself and her mother when she was a young child.Madonna/Instagram

Madonna/Instagram

Madonna’s late brotherChristopher Ciccone, whodiedin October at age 63, also discusses how their mother’s death impacted the family and their father Silvio Ciccone, now 93.

“I think when my mother died things changed emotionally with everybody,” Christopher says, adding of his sister, “I know my father put a great deal more pressure on her to be our guide. She was our mother’s namesake, and her name was Madonna. I mean, it either crushes you or edifies you or elevates you to something else.”

“It means a great deal to me,” Madonna adds of her name. “It’s my mother’s name and I loved my mother, so there’s a link there.”

Madonna with her brother Christopher Ciccone at the 1997 Golden Globes.Gary Friedman/Los Angeles Times via Getty

Gary Friedman/Los Angeles Times via Getty

Earlier this year, Madonnaremembered her late mom on Mother’s Day as she shared an emotional poston Instagram.

She recalled her mother’s death while referring to a section of her 2023–2024 Celebration Tour that paid tribute to her.

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“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 my tumultuous relationship with sleep,” Madonna continued.

On the tour, the photo of her mother appeared during the song “Mother and Father” from Madonna’sAmerican Lifealbum, perEntertainment Weekly.

Becoming Madonnais now streaming onSky Documentaries.

source: people.com