Grieving Madonna speaks of torment over brother’s death: ‘Thank God I have my creative life to keep me going’

Carolina Gengo, 59, who dated Anthony when he spent time in New York in the ’80s, has said he was a complex man who hated being known as “Madonna’s brother” and wanted to fill his time sitting around discussing his piles of books.

She previously said: “He was a lost soul trying to find his way but he was a good person.

“He had books everywhere, that was all he really had. He was into reading about life and philosophy And he wanted to sit around and talk about it.

“He talked about what it was like being the brother of Madonna, he didn’t like being known as the brother of Madonna.

Anthony told the Daily Mail in 2011 he was a “zero” in the eyes of his family and an “embarrassment”, adding: “If I froze to death, my family probably wouldn’t know or care about it for six months.”

At the time he said he had been living under a bridge in Michigan after losing his job with his dad Silvio at his vineyard only six miles away.

Madonna repeatedly offered to help her brother by paying for him to go into rehab and his dad said he would get him help if he went into counselling, and he completed a stint in rehab in 2017.