Madonna’s stepmother, Joan Ciccone, has died after a short bout with “very aggressive” cancer.

She was 81.

Joan Clare Ciccone married Silvio Ciccone in 1966, three years after the pop star’s mother died. The two had a tumultuous and fraught relationship, though in later years appeared to have softened, according to People. Madonna’s mother died at age 30 in December 1963, when her daughter was just 5.

“Truthfully, I didn’t accept my stepmother when I was growing up,” Madonna told Larry King in 2002. “In retrospect I think that was really hard on her.”

She agreed when he asked if Joan Ciccone was “trying” to make it work.

“Joan Clare Ciccone passed away peacefully early in the morning of September 24th, 2024, after a brief encounter with a very aggressive cancer,” an online obituary said. “She will be terribly missed by her family and friends whose lives she enriched with her enthusiasm, joy and love.”

Born on Feb. 3, 1943, she was the eldest of six siblings, the rest of them brothers. She became a dental assistant before marrying the widowed Silvio Tony Ciccone, Madonna’s father, in 1966. After bearing three children with him — with one dying of a heart defect — she opened a day care that she ran for more than 20 years, the obit said.

From 1995 on, she and Silvio Ciccone established and operated Ciccone Vineyard and Winery, doing everything from tending vines to maneuvering a tractor throughout the rows, and cooking for many of the tasting room events, becoming “instant friends with many of the patrons,” according to the write-up.

She and Silvio Ciccone were married for 58 years.

Madonna had no immediate comment on her loss.

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