Madonna’s mother, who is also her namesake, died of breast cancer in 1963
In 1963, when Madonna was just five years old, she lost her mother, Madonna Louise Ciccone, to breast cancer at the young age of 30. Recently, the Queen of Pop has been confronting the unbearable loss as she paid tribute to her namesake on her The Celebration Tour.
On Mother’s Day, the 65-year-old star reflected on the emotions and feelings that have been coming up.
“I stood on stage for 81 shows staring up at the beautiful face of my mother and wondering what she must’ve been thinking as she waved goodbye to me from her hospital window,” Madonna began the long, bittersweet caption alongside photographs of her on stage with her mother’s image projected in the background.
“I stepped into the station wagon and shut the door not knowing it was the last time I’d see her,” she recalled of the day her mother passed away.
She further reflected, “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 went to sleep,” adding that this led to her “tumultuous relationship with sleep.’”
“When I stepped out on the stage and looked up at my mothers face every night… I said hello I said goodbye… I said Thank you… I hope you’re proud of me… I said Please protect me and keep me sane,” she penned.
The mom-of-four then detailed how her relationship with her own children has strengthened throughout her tour, further listing out their achievements over the past few months.
She concluded the post with a quote from writer and civil rights activist James Baldwin: “All the children belong to us… Everyone of them… Belong to the Mothers… the Warriors… the Fighters… The Fearless Ones.”