Madonna's divorce from Guy Ritchie has taken a sudden acrimonious downturn with them both demanding their army of household staff to testify against the other.
Domestic and business staff at the couple's properties in England and America are being asked to provide witness statements about their two bosses by their respective legal teams.
The couple are preparing to slug it out in court over residence of two of their children Rocco, seven and adopted David Banda, three.
Guy's argument is that Madonna should not be considered the children's primary carer simply because she rarely cared for them - that nannies and other looked after them while Madonna pursued her career.
Guy claims that especially in recent months, in the run up to Madonna's world tour, when nannies were not caring for the children, he would be.
He is also hoping staff will confirm his wife became increasingly erratic and volatile and would erupt into furious rages if things did not go her way.
If he was ever late or had to change or break an arrangement, for example, Madonna would lose her temper and hurl a torrent of abuse at him.
Guy is expected to claim that Madonna became increasingly unpleasant over the adoption of a further girl from Malawi, Mercy James, and was furious over the kiss and tell publication of a book by her brother Christopher Ciccone.Madonna also grew annoyed by his continued friendship with his ex girlfriends, especially Tania Strecker despite her now being married.
She also questioned him over a leading lady in one of the films he directed despite them only having a professional relationship.
Guy also hopes domestic staff will be able to chronical how Madonna was too controlling over the children's macrobiotic diet and banning them from watching TV and reading newspapers.
Christopher Ciccone
Madonna was furious about kiss and tell revelations in her brother Christopher Ciccone's book
Madonna on the other hand is also taking witness statements from staff which she hope will illustrate that Guy was 'emotionally distant', and at times inappropriate in his language and behaviour around the children.
She hopes the statements will help her counter-argument that Guy too was only concerned about the advancement of his own career at the detriment of time spent around their children.
'The entire way they wanted the children brought up was different', said a source.
'Each would constantly pick holes in the way the other one over it.'
Madonna claims Guy would occasionally swear within earshot of the children and on occasion, would roll home quite drunk from being out drinking with friends.
'Madonna is searching high and low for evidence to support the claim that Guy was a bad father in order to support her case that the children should live with her in New York.
'Basically the gloves are off and while it might have looked quite an amicable split a couple of weeks ago, they are now throwing huge resources into trying to destroy one another to get residence of the children,' said the source.
Madonna is understood to believe that Guy is only pushing so hard on the residence of the children to strengthen his financial position. If he wins residence with him,
Madonna will, afterall, have to pay him substantial maintenance. She also feels if he wins residence, he will use it 'as a bargaining tool' to win a greater lump-sum settlement.
Guy is currently in line for between £10m and £15m plus property.
Madonna has already offered Guy £5 million extra to dictate to Guy the access to the children.
Madonna has also informed her lawyers that if the marriage ever faltered, she had had a verbal agreement with Guy that she would take full custody of all their children.
The Mail has also learned that Madonna's legal team have been hard at work gathering evidence about Guy.
One source said last night that Madonna's legal team have a 'killer piece of evidence' that, if presented, would force Guy's hand towards settling out of court over money and custody very swiftly.
Said a source: 'Over the weekend, Madonna's mood on this changed and she suddenly become very confident. She feels she has a piece of evidence that when presented will make Guy settle fast. Whether this is the case, or simply her lawyer posturing remains to be seen'
MailOnline revealed at the weekend that Ritchie claimed his marriage to Madonna disintegrated when she started planning their sex life in her diary around her sessions in the gym.The 50-year-old singer's life was so regimented, he said, that even their time in the bedroom was meticulously planned for weeks in advance - something which took all of the thrill out of it for him.
The revelation came as Guy sat down with lawyers to talk over the reasons why he felt the eight-year marriage broke down last week.
The split has become increasingly acrimonious with accusations flying from both sides in recent days.
A source close to the couple said: 'With her time being so precious to her, and with there being more important things to her like spending three of four hours in the gym every day, it
become just another thing in the diary. In the last couple of years, it was all schemed into the diary.
'Guy of course felt this a tremendous turn-off to be at the same level of importance as, for example, her gym sessions and Kabbalah meetings.
'As a consequence, their sex life died more than a year ago. It is no exaggeration to say that they had not shared a bed in a year when the divorce was announced. And when the sex died for them, the marriage was doomed.'
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