Queen of Pop and gay icon Madonna turned grief into action by becoming a staunch AIDS activist following the devastating loss of her circle of friends during the catastrophic epidemic.
The legendary pop star’s brother Christopher Ciccone – who passed away in October 2024 due to prostate cancer – was heard in uncovered tapes how the deaths of her gay friends drove her to help and support AIDS victims.
Among her heartfelt endeavours, she covered the medical costs for British artist Martin Burgoyne until his passing at just 23 in 1986 and even persuaded her then-husband Sean Penn to fetch experimental drugs from Mexico that offered a glimmer of hope against the relentless disease.
The Times has Madonna on record expressing her despair over her friend’s fate: “What could I do? I loved him. And people with AIDS are treated like they’re lepers or something. If they contract AIDS, all their friends disappear. That’s not a friend. How could I desert him? He was really my best friend.”
The Vogue singer had a creative partnership with Martin, after their initial meeting where he slung drinks as a bartender at an East Village club. Their friendship flourished; they became roommates, and he played crucial roles in both managing her first club tour and crafting the cover art for 1983’s Burning Up single.
In poignant recollections captured in these unearthed recordings from her brother, set to feature in the forthcoming 90-minute Sky documentary Becoming Madonna, Christopher speaks of his sister’s decision to dedicate her 1987 Who’s That Girl? tour to Martin’s memory, which helped rake in $400,000 for the American Foundation for AIDS Research.
Christopher Ciccone was quoted by The Times as stating: “The AIDS benefit that we did at Madison Square Garden was emotionally taxing for everybody.” He added, “Especially for [Madonna], because of Martin. There had been so many friends of ours who had AIDS.”