Christopher Ciccone writes:I first heard about Guy [Ritchie] in late 1999, after Madonna was introduced to him over lunch at Sting and Trudie Styler's home. I knew Guy was a British film director and that he was younger than her. Like her first husband Sean Penn, Guy comes from a solidly middle-class family and yet both are prone to present themselves as tough street kids. My sister, I believe, has always played the identical game. After all, she is a middle-class girl who propagates the story that she landed in Times Square with just a pair of ballet shoes and $35 to her name. But that's pure mythology and the further she progresses, the more mythological her life story becomes.
Although our father wasn't really allowed to tell us about his job because it was top-secret, he worked in the defence industry in Detroit, designing firing systems and laser optics, first at Chrysler Defense and then at General Dynamics.
Far from being this lost and friendless little waif who didn't even have a crust of dry bread to eat, when Madonna went to New York she had money in her pocket, plenty of contacts and a support system all in place.
I often wonder whether her taste for self-invention explains her attraction to both Sean and Guy.
Many of Guy's forebears were highly decorated army officers. He clearly has a great deal to live up to. Which is why I can understand, in a way, why he chose to use his talents in a different arena by making what some term a 'homophobic' movie about London gangsters - Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels.
Nevertheless, I was eager to meet this Brit who appeared to have captivated my sister so much... READ MORE
