Madonna’s brother Chris Ciccone says he knows what split up his sister and her second husband and it’s all down to the Kabbalah cult. Ciccone, 48, spoke to our friends at the Bild and said that he’s sure Madonna’s slavish devotion to the cult hastened the end of her marriage. Ciccone has admitted that his relationship with his sister essentially ended when she got together with Guy Ritchie, who he claims doesn’t like gay people.

Madonna’s brother told Good Morning America three months ago when promoting his new biography of the star that she uses Kabbalah like a weapon to justify her bad behavior. Now he says that it was Kabbalah that ended her marriage of nearly eight years, and he’s sure of it. He also got some digs in at Ritchie for being a “yes” man and not challenging his sister, something that likely helped their marriage last as long as it did:

BILD: Why has your sister’s marriage come to an end?
Christopher Ciccone: The Kabbalah sect*, to which Madonna is completely devoted, played a large role in this marriage. It was based on it. And that is not enough on which to base a marriage and it couldn’t have survived.

BILD: Is there any chance of reconciliation?
Ciccone: No, I really don’t think so. With two such ambitious and headstrong personalities, it would just be too hard.

BILD: How do you get along with your brother-in-law, Guy Ritchie?
Ciccone: Guy is not the easiest guy to get along with. We don’t really see eye to eye.

BILD: What was it about him that your sister loved?
Ciccone: I really have no idea. I suppose I could have tried to stop her. But I always wanted to welcome those people whom Madonna let into her life. Whether it was Warren Beatty, Sean Penn or Carlos Leon. They were and are good friends of mine. Guy was the first who couldn’t bear how close Madonna and I were. He has a problem with gays.

BILD: That must have been a difficult situation. How did your sister deal with it?
Ciccone: It wasn’t easy and it was so high-profile, everything happened in public.

BILD: How did Ritchie influence your sister?
Ciccone: Well, the fact is, her new album is not innovative. She didn’t take risks with it like she’s done in the past. And the tour is a bit of a disappointment. It’s isn’t Guy’s fault directly. But previously her creativity came from conflict, if we fought, we sparked off each other too. Then she wanted to be with Guy, who always just says ‘yes’ and didn’t challenge her and support her.

[From Bild.de]

How would Ciccone know what ended his sister’s marriage unless he’s still in touch with her? It sounds like pure speculation on his part, although it’s possible she wasn’t as shocked by his biography as she claimed and had really ghost written parts of it, as was reported at the time.

As more stories come out about the end of Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s marriage it really seems like Guy is behind the stories leaked to People and that Madonna’s camp is talking to The Sun. Earlier today MSat reported on a story that Madonna knew her marriage was over when Ritchie failed to show the empathy and support she expected after she broke some bones falling off a horse. At that time, People reported that Ritchie was “relieved” the marriage was over because he “doesn’t have to fake it anymore.”

Now People has a new story that sounds straight from Ritchie’s camp and details the multiple reasons their relationship didn’t work. Kabbalah is just one of many incompatibilities and problems, and they’re said to have been drifting apart for some time. The way they phrase it is typical of something a “guy” would say, like he’s over it already.

“It wasn’t just one thing,” explains the Ritchie source. “They just lost their connection.”

Though Madonna, 50, released a statement over the summer denying a romance with Rodriguez, the singer’s pal says their relationship did contribute to the trouble.

“He was a factor in a long list of problems that they had been having over the past year or two,” says her friend. “But it wasn’t the reason. If she wanted to move past that she would have, and Guy would have too.”

The couple certainly differed on their devotion to Kabbalah: “Guy was never into the Kabbalah thing, but Madonna knew that,” says the Ritchie source. Over the years (and as recently as this summer) Ritchie, 40, often attended services with his wife and kids, but in an August interview with the magazine supplement of the U.K.’s Observer, the director said he wouldn’t describe himself as a follower of the mystical Jewish teachings.

“I like to think I’m an objective guy,” said Ritchie. “I have sympathies with many philosophies, and I think it’d be a mistake to be a follower of anything, really.”

Ritchie also didn’t always want to be a part of Madonna’s high-profile world. “She would try to get him to come to things, and he resisted,” says the Ritchie source. “She was more about being a celebrity and he was more low key. He wanted to live in London and live a normal life but that’s impossible when you’re married to Madonna.”

Madonna’s pal agrees. “She was always first when it came to her husband or herself, and that really took a toll on Guy. There was only so much he could put up with.”

As devoted as they both are to children Lourdes, 12, Rocco, 8, and David, 3, according to the Ritchie source, Madonna’s decision to adopt David from Malawi was met by some resistance from her husband.

“From what I understand Guy really didn’t want to adopt David,” says the source. “He felt like they should focus on their marriage because they were having problems then, too. But Madonna insisted. And what Madonna wants, Madonna gets.”

Because of the long history of problems, the Ritchie source says both sides have come to terms with the split: “They’ve both cried and dried their eyes. They’re over it. They’ve had time to come to grips.”

[From People]

Madonna will move on and maybe Guy will reclaim his career with the latest film he’s directing, Sherlock Holmes. It seems a little more than coincidental that once Guy was getting back on his feet again their relationship finally ended.

Madonna and Guy are shown in the header on 9/1/08 at the Rock N Rolla after party and below on Guy’s 40th birthday on 9/10/08. Credit: Bauergriffinonline

Madonna’s unappealing brother worked very hard in her new autobiography to drop as many famous names as possible, just in case his sister’s wasn’t enough to sell books. But this anecdote didn’t make it into the book.

Please tell me you saved something juicy that didn’t make it into the book specifically for Out readers.
There are certain stories that don’t end the way that they end in the book. It’s not really family stuff. It’s more like — well there’s a bit in the book about Demi Moore and I dancing on the bar –

And the paparazzi got a picture of you —
Yeah — and she’s dancing up on me and humping me from behind. The one part that’s not in the book is that she was lactating at the time and she was squirting breast milk at my lesbian friends. My friend Michelle called me the next morning and asked me, “How do I get breast milk out of my black dress?” and I said “How the fuck would I know? Call Demi.” It was hysterical. There are no pictures of it but it actually happened. The lawyers didn’t think it was wise for me to print that — so there’s your juicy tidbit.

Out Magazine

Now, I can tell you on good authority (if you call Kate Beckinsale a good authority) that you can definitely squirt breast milk a fair distance. Although I have never been to a party where women have squirted breast milk at someone, and I’ve been to some raucous Mommy and Me sessions. Even a woman who posed nude on the cover of Vanity Fair would probably still hesitate to expose her lactating breast in a club and squirt people.

I’m calling BS on this one. Christopher goes to the effort of pointing out there are no pictures – can you tell me if you saw Demi Moore, at the height of her fame, pull a breast out of her top and squirt some lesbians, you wouldn’t take a photo? It’s just one of those moments that needs to be captured on film to be believed. Not to mention papparazzi got pictures of the bar dancing, but missed the exposure?

Christopher left this out of the book for legal reasons, but I guess he’s not too concerned about being sued for verbal comments. Maybe the book just hasn’t sold enough and he’s desperate to keep it being talked about – it’s at my local chain store on the sale rack already.

Christopher Ciccone is shown in the header signing copies of his book at Book Soup in West Hollywood on 7/30/08. Credit: Dimitri Halkidis / WENN. Demi Moore is shown at San Sebastian Film Festival on 9/30/08. Credit: Solarpix / PRPhotos

Madonna’s brother Christopher Ciccone’s’ “unauthorized” biography, Life With My Sister Madonna, certainly came at a convenient time for the pop star, even if she was said to object to its content. Madonna’s “Sticky and Sweet” tour starts later this summer and people are saying Madonna must be behind it since she’ll stop at nothing to get any kind of press. It isn’t that much of a logical leap considering how she’s managed her career to date. Recently she’s been accused of capitalizing on her cult-loving friendship with Alex Rodriguez to fuel affair rumors. She issued a statement that people are so easily fooled by the supposedly fake stories about their affair while she’s said to be lapping up the coverage behind the scenes.

Christopher’s book doesn’t paint a compassionate picture of the powerhouse diva, but Page Six says that doesn’t matter to her - they claim she made sure that it was acceptable before it went to publication and that she underwrote passages herself:

MADONNA is truly the master of media manipulation. “The supposed scandal about [her brother] Christopher Ciccone’s book is bull[bleep],” an insider told Page Six. “She actually ghost-wrote parts of it with him, the way Princess Diana helped Andrew Morton write his book on her. That’s why there’s nothing too devastating in Chris’s book. He’s mean to others, but not so much to his sister.” In addition, Madge, now frighteningly rail thin, exploited Alex Rodriguez. “She flirted with him and manipulated him,” our source declared. “She didn’t count on wife Cynthia leaving him and naming her in the divorce, though.” Madonna is using the buzz over her relationship with A-Rod to her benefit. “She’s ordered three A-Rod Yankee jerseys she’ll wear in the finale of her upcoming shows. All of this was created to sell tickets for her tour, which hasn’t been selling so well.” A rep for Madonna didn’t return calls.

[From Page Six]

The NY Post is far from reliable and it’s possible they’re just basing this story on an educated guesses that people are making considering the book’s timing. I am inclined to believe that Madonna really isn’t behind the biography at all and that she’s pissed off at Chris. He came off as completely honest about it in interviews and the details he revealed about her were not flattering to her. He said she only gives their grandmother $500 a month, that she uses Kabbalah like a weapon, and that he’s not talking to her anymore. It’s possible he’s as much of a master manipulator as his sister, though, and that he’s not revealing that they worked together on the book in exchange for a boatload of money. Or maybe they did have a falling out and she contributed some parts of the book but doesn’t agree with everything that’s in there. As it is we’re giving Madonna far too much attention by even speculating on this crap.

Madonna is shown out at the Kabbalah Centre on Saturday. That’s Sabbath day in Judaism and she’s wearing a freaking jogging suit and high heeled sneakers to church. Credit: WENN

Madonna’s brother Christopher Ciccone was on Good Morning America again today to promote his book Life with My Sister Madonna, and damned if he isn’t making it seem like a juicy read. He’s really dishing the dirt, no matter his motivations for this book.

The segment started out with him saying “I didn’t set about to knock her off her pedestal, I set about to push a nice little staircase up, help her walk back down to earth with the rest of us.”

Madonna’s “Cinderella Childhood” is a myth:
Chris says Madonna grew up in a middle class home and that it’s not true
that she went to NY knowing no one with just $35 in her pocket.

Deborah Roberts “The Madonna that you see now, does she resemble that girl that you knew so many years ago, that you grew up with?”

Christopher Ciccone: “Not after the face lift… yeah in some ways. I think ultimately she’s a lonely person. Unfortunately it truly is lonely at the top.”

DR: “Would you say Madonna was mostly good to you over the years, or was it a double edged sword?”

CC: “It was a double edged sword… where there was a gift there was also a slap, so it balanced itself out in some ways, but in the end I had to step back.”

Madonna rolling on our mother’s grave in “Truth or Dare” was a turning point
Deborah Roberts explains that Chris refused to be filmed at their mother’s grave for the “Truth or Dare” documentary. He claims that Madonna invited him there and that he was suprised she brought a camera crew along. He says that was when something changed for him.

“If you’ve seen the ‘Truth or Dare’ movie when she’s rolling around on my
mother’s grave. That was a turning point for me and my relationship with her. I kept it inside, but I thought to myself ‘There are no boundaries there. My mother has now become a bit player in her life story,’ and it hurt me.”

Madonna was cheap and stiffed our grandmother
“I wanted [Madonna] to look after her. To get her a driver and a car. She’s 97 right now. It seemed like the easiest thing to do… she gave her $500 a month and pays for her medical bills. ”

On his financial motivation for the book
“I’m happy to get paid for my work, so I don’t have a problem with that. I’m also happy to get paid for the first time what I think I’m worth.”

DR: “Did you get paid handsomely? Seven figures?”
CC: “I’m not unhappy with it. ”

On Madonna’s reaction to his book
“I know that her reaction… she went to the worst place. That I was going to discuss private medical matters, that I was going to tear her apart. She was very upset and since I wasn’t responding to her she was calling my father and trying to get him to chose sides, which I thought was a bit on the low side.”

DR: “Do you think she’ll speak to you again after this book?”

CC: “I think so, I hope so… I don’t want to talk to her unless we’re speaking to each other as equals… if she stays together with her husband and that means we don’t have a relationship, that’s cool with me…

“What I’m suggesting is that Guy’s attitude… and her attitude towards me needs to change… I’d like to get to know my niece and nephew better, I’d like to meet David. My parents still haven’t met him.”

Chris says “I love my sister… it will take some time for us to find our
way back to a good place. I’m not sure when or if that will happen.”

This guy sure knows how to give a good interview and I bet this book will be a best seller. I know I want to read it now, because you can tell he’s not afraid to say how it is.

Madonna’s brother Christopher Ciccone was on Good Morning America this morning to promote his new unauthorized biography of the pop star called Life with My Sister Madonna. He was asked if he believes the story that Madonna was cheating on her husband and broke up Alex Rodriguez’s marriage, and he said it’s probably not true.

Says he doesn’t think Madonna cheated with A-Rod
Deborah Roberts: “Do you think your sister came between [Alex and Cynthia Rodriguez]?”
Chris: “I think it’s highly unlikely…
“First of all, despite everything else she’s still a Catholic girl, and I don’t think - Although, he is kind of her type so it’s difficult to say.”

DR: “So what happened between her and Alex Rodriguez, do you think?
CC: “I think that he was interested in Kabbalah, to be honest, and I don’t think… I know Alex from Miami, we’ve met a number of times. I doubt this is actually an affair.”

Not very many brothers find themselves wiping their sister’s naked body.
Then Christopher talked about how he used to be super close and live with Madonna and it was kind of creepy. He said that “it was like a marriage,” and that he used to even dress her when she was touring.

“Not very many brothers find themselves on their knees, in their sister’s dressing room, wiping sweat off of her naked body. It was an odd situation. I couldn’t really tell my friends, but I wanted to be there for her.”

He said they were living in the same house after Madonna and that they used to run together and “We had our sourdough toast together. We had our coffee together. We were very close. It was a bit like a marriage.”

Guy Ritchie came between us. I wasn’t about to sleep with her.
When asked what happened to their relationship, he said “Guy Ritchie pretty much happened to our relationship, for the most part…

“The best way to get to my sister is to get in bed with her. Since I wasn’t doing that - I wasn’t about to. The last person to speak to her at night has the most influence. We both couldn’t exist in the same hemisphere.. not to mention his issues with homosexuality.”

Christopher said Guy Ritchie has problems with gay people and with him, and that his friends made rude references to gay people in their toasts at his wedding to Madonna.

He said that the book is not an attempt to get revenge at anyone. He also claims Madonna is likely to hold on to her relationship with Guy and she’s not one to walk away.

Kaballah validated my sister’s bad behavior, she uses it like a weapon
Chris said he’s no longer a follower of Kabbalah but that he did follow it for a while. He said he was “blackmailed” into it, because Madonna owed him a payment on a house he designed for it, and that she said she would only pay him if he went to a Kabbalah class. He said it did find it helpful at the time and he needed to “take another look at myself.”

DR: “Has Kabbalah made your sister a better person?”
CC: “I suppose on some levels. Kabbalah in many ways has validated some of her bad behavior. Now it’s her way or no one’s way because she’s got God on her side… she has a tendency to use it like a weapon. I think that’s not what they quite intended.”

DR: “Are you saying she’s controlling and she uses Kabbalah to help her control?”
CC: “Controlling is a perfect word for it, and right now, in her life, there are three things she can’t control. She’s turning 50, her husband, and me and this book. That’s enough for anything who lives that kind of choreographed mythological life.”

Good Morning America will have more with Christopher Ciccone tomorrow including details of their childhood. Given all the dirt he’s dishing this book sounds pretty good. It’s also rather telling that he’s acting like Madonna was more to him than just his sister. He said he couldn’t tell his friends about their relationship and that it was “like a marriage.” He definitely has an axe to grind and is acting like a jilted lover.

Bits and pieces of Madonna’s brother’s tell-all biography about the singer are leaking out bit by bit. Some of it is pretty boring – and the vast majority isn’t exactly shocking. Not because it isn’t semi-interesting, but more because there’s little left about Madonna that’s truly surprising. Though sometimes it’s nice just to get a confirmation of all those rumors you always thought were true. And frankly, Christopher Ciccone’s book couldn’t come out at a worse time for Madonna. She’s not exactly facing a love fest, in terms of PR.

The most obvious revelation so far is Ciccone’s assertion that Madonna is practically in love with herself. Which isn’t exactly a surprise – but makes you wonder how she’s going to counter that assertion.

A memoir by Madonna’s brother says the singer really does love her husband, director Guy Ritchie, but, apparently, not as much as she loves her career and herself. “I hope that it is Kabbalah’s lesson that she is not the center of the universe,” Christopher Ciccone writes in “Life With My Sister Madonna,” scheduled to come out next Tuesday but purchased in advance by The Associated Press.

According to her brother, she and Ritchie love each other, despite rumors that they are splitting up. He believes they are “passionately committed” to staying married, with the help of Kabbalah.

The book offers snapshots of Bruce Willis allegedly hitting on other women while still married to Demi Moore, of Ciccone dancing with Moore at a drag queen club, of Madonna allegedly kissing Gwyneth Paltrow on the mouth during a New Year’s Eve dance at which Ciccone said that he and Ritchie got into a shoving match.

Ciccone describes Ritchie as a man’s man undisturbed by homophobic humor, whose emergence in Madonna’s life marks “the death knell” of the Ciccones’ brother-sister bond. Ciccone portrays Madonna as a show business survivor — bossy and self-absorbed, sometimes compassionate, mindful of “how little faith many people once had in her.”

[From the Daily News]

You don’t really hear a whole lot about Guy Ritchie’s personality since he and Madge got married. She tends to overshadow everyone else, to say the least. It’s interesting to hear that he got into a shoving match with his own brother-in-law. I wonder what it was about.

Madonna’s PR rep said she hadn’t read the book but was very upset by what she’s heard about it. Her rep also said she assumes that the book is the final nail in the coffin in terms of their brother-sister relationship. Though by Ciccone’s own assertion the two haven’t been close in a long time. I think it’s kind of low of Christopher to do this to his own sister… but on the other hand it’s Madonna, and it’s hard to have much sympathy for her lately.

Here’s Christopher Ciccone with Madonna’s good friend Gwyneth Paltrow in 2002. Header of Madonna departing a Kabbalah service in New York on June 28th. Photographer: Anthony Dixon; Images thanks to WENN.

Stop the presses! Madonna’s brother, Christopher Ciccone, is writing a book, titled Life With My Sister Madonna, about the singer. And while we were hoping for a bunch of fascinating, salacious details, word on the street (and by street, I mean internet) is that it pretty much sucks. It could be due to the writing, but I’m guessing it’s because there’s practically nothing we don’t already know about Madonna. Even before the internet, we all managed to know the vivid intricacies of her life – because she couldn’t stop talking about it. The handful of things we haven’t heard about don’t seem all that scintillating in the scheme of Madonna’s antics.

Apparently, Britney Spears isn’t the only A-lister Madonna has smooched.

In his upcoming unauthorized autobiography Life With My Sister Madonna, her brother Christopher Ciccone claims the singer, 49, planted a steamy kiss on BFF Gwyneth Paltrow.

According to an excerpt in British tabloid The Sun, Ciccone writes that Madonna was at a New Year’s Eve bash for designer Donatella Versace.

She was dancing on a table at 4 a.m. when she allegedly grabbed Paltrow, 35, pulled her face to hers and kissed her.

Partygoers, Ciccone says, were shocked.

[From Us Weekly]

Really? Guests were shocked that Madonna did something unnecessary for attention? Us doesn’t give any time frame for when this passionate lip lock may have occurred, but I’m guessing that if it happened anytime after 1983, the party goers shouldn’t have even batted an eye. If I woke up tomorrow morning and found Madonna making chicken sandwiches in my kitchen wearing only strategically placed fruit peels, I wouldn’t be all that surprised. Granted she’s not as crazy for attention as she used to be, but still. The list of people she hasn’t kissed to make a stir is much shorter than the list of people she has.

Here is Christopher Ciccone at a party on March 25th, 2007. Images thanks to Splash.