Chris Ciccone tell-all on Madonna
Any thoughts?
Here's some articles discussing it:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/06122008/gossip/pagesix/oh__brother__a_mad ge_tell_all_115169.htm
June 12, 2008 -- MADONNA and Britney Spears are about to get socked with scandalous, tell-all books about their wild and crazy lives.
Madonna is sure to be the more betrayed. Her brother Christopher Ciccone, who had a falling-out with Her Madgesty several years ago, has collaborated with British journo Wendy Leigh on an exposé of his sister for Simon Spotlight Entertainment, an imprint of Simon & Schuster - and it's going to be "brutal."
"It's extremely graphic and devastating," said a source who declined to give details. "He wrote it on the sly without telling Madonna. They want to put it out before her lawyers can get a hold of it."
The book, due out next month, has a massive print run of 350,000.
A dismayed friend of Madonna said, "We'd heard rumors, but didn't realize he'd actually written it. He was there through the crazy years and has many stories to tell, I'm sure. He's seen it all. Oh, my."
Adam Rothberg, Simon & Schuster's fork-tongued flack, told us yesterday, "We don't have anything to say at this time" - but then gave the story to the AP. Madonna's rep declined to comment.
Ciccone - a gay decorator/chef once described by Rupert Everett in Everett's biography as "a solid raft for Madonna in the shark-infested waters" - was ditched by his sister after she hooked up with her now husband Guy Ritchie, who Everett said was "uncomfortable around queens."
Meanwhile, Spears is the subject of a tome by investigative reporter Ian Halperin, the author of "Hollywood Undercover: Revealing the Sordid Secrets of Tinseltown" and "Bad and Beautiful: Inside the Dazzling and Deadly World of Supermodels."
Halperin, who plans to offer "Stalking Britney: Under Siege with Britney Spears" to publishers next week, reveals "details of at least two suicide attempts by the troubled star," as well as allegations by a drug dealer about her substance abuse.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080611/ap_en_ce/books_madonna_s_brother
By HILLEL ITALIE, AP National Writer
1 hour, 26 minutes ago
NEW YORK - The mystery is solved: Madonna's brother, Christopher Ciccone, is writing a memoir about his sister, to be released in mid-July by an imprint of Simon & Schuster, the publisher told The Associated Press on Wednesday.
The imprint, Simon Spotlight Entertainment, had been promoting a celebrity memoir for July, without identifying the author or contents. "Life With My Sister Madonna" will have a first printing of 350,000. Financial details were not disclosed.
"Ciccone's extraordinary memoir is based on his life and 47 years of growing up with and working with his sister — the most famous woman in the world," the publisher said Wednesday in a statement.
Persuading stores to make "blind" orders has been tried before. In 2006, William Morrow offered a mysterious tell-all that turned out to be by Princess Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell, who had already written about her. Retailers were angered and the book sold poorly.
Ciccone will work with Wendy Leigh, who has written biographies of Liza Minnelli and Grace Kelly and a highly critical book about Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Ciccone, 47, has worked often with his older sister, designing and directing her "Girlie Show" tour in 1993 and serving as artistic director of her 1991 documentary, "Madonna: Truth or Dare." But according to Madonna's spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, they are no longer close.
Madonna, who turns 50 this summer, is among the most popular recording artists in history, with such hits as "Like a Virgin," "Material Girl" and "Vogue."
Rosenberg had no initial comment on the book, but told the AP that "Madonna has not cooperated with any biography about herself."
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