Madonna Recalls Pain of Losing Mom to Cancer When She Was 5 in New Doc: 'Like a Part of My Heart Was Ripped Out'

The death of her mother when she was just 5 years old hit Madonna hard.

In archival clips and audio featured in the new Sky documentary Becoming Madonna, the Queen of Pop, 66, opens up about how losing her mom — who died in 1963 at the age of 30 after being diagnosed with breast cancer — affected her.

“What happened you know when I was [5] years old, it was just the greatest event of my life,” the singer says of losing her mother, Madonna Louise Ciccone. “It was like a part of my heart was ripped out.”

“I was forced to grow up fast and understand my mother’s death, to understand the psychological, all things that were going on. It was too much for a child I think,” she continues, adding that she felt an “emptiness” afterward.

As for what she remembers about her mom, Madonna says in a separate clip, “She was beautiful and sweet and a hard worker.”

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Madonna’s late brother Christopher Ciccone, who died in October at age 63, also discusses how their mother’s death impacted the family and their father Silvio Ciccone, now 93.

“I think when my mother died things changed emotionally with everybody,” Christopher says, adding of his sister, “I know my father put a great deal more pressure on her to be our guide. She was our mother’s namesake, and her name was Madonna. I mean, it either crushes you or edifies you or elevates you to something else.”

“It means a great deal to me,” Madonna adds of her name. “It’s my mother’s name and I loved my mother, so there’s a link there.”

Related: Madonna Gets Another Tattoo as a Tribute to Her Late Mom: 'My Turn to Bleed for My Mother'

Earlier this year, Madonna remembered her late mom on Mother’s Day as she shared an emotional post on Instagram.

She recalled her mother's death while referring to a section of her 2023–2024 Celebration Tour that paid tribute to her.

"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. I stepped into the station wagon and shut the door not knowing it was the last time I’d see her," she began the post, referencing the moment in the show where she sang to a black-and-white photo of her mother on a screen.

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"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 had gone to sleep, which explains my tumultuous relationship with sleep," Madonna continued.

The mother of six added, “When I stepped out on the stage and looked up at my mother's 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.' ”

On the tour, the photo of her mother appeared during the song "Mother and Father" from Madonna's American Life album, per Entertainment Weekly.

Becoming Madonna is now streaming on Sky Documentaries.

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