Haunted Madonna 'prepares for £50m divorce from Guy'

Madonna looked tired and stressed as she arrived back at her New York apartment last night - as friends claimed she and Guy Ritchie are to divorce.

After months of speculation, the couple are expected to end their nearly eight-year marriage, one of showbusiness's most volatile unions, imminently.

A divorce settlement could leave film director Guy pocketing up to £50million. It is believed the couple did not sign a pre-nuptial agreement.
Madonna, 50, is one of the world's richest women, with an estimated fortune of £300 million. Ritchie, 40 - director of Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels and recently RocknRolla - has his own independent wealth but it comes nowhere near his wife's. Reports earlier this year suggested that Madonna had already hired lawyer Fiona Shackleton - who represented Sir Paul McCartney in his courtroom battle with Heather Mills, and helped him reduce her claim on his £825million to £24million.
A claim by Ritchie for a share of Madonna's fortune would be based on their 10-year relationship, his support of her career and the fact that they have two children together, Rocco, eight, and adopted David Banda, two.

Madonna's determination to adopt a second child from Africa is said to be one of the main reasons for the separation.

Her husband fiercely opposes adding to the family in this way as their marriage was placed under severe strain two years ago when they adopted toddler David from Malawi.

The couple are said to have had a string of rows in recent months. But over the past three weeks it has become so strained they are thought to have communicated only through their personal assistants.

Madonna, who is currently on a gruelling world tour, is said to have wanted to postpone any separation until the New Year.

But Ritchie apparently decided that they should go their separate ways immediately. He is expected to move out of their London home and into Ashcombe House, Wiltshire, which is his property.

It is not clear where Madonna's daughter Lourdes, 12, Rocco and David will live.

The couple were due to celebrate their eighth wedding anniversary this Christmas.

Last night a close friend of the couple said: 'They have both been fighting and the marriage has been on the rocks for weeks.

'Guy has been the one who has come to the conclusion that enough is enough. They had planned to make it work in the New Year after the end of Madonna's world tour but it quickly became clear that the relationship was not worth saving.

'Guy has been saying that they both have separate lives at the moment.

'Madonna spends too much time in the gym and she is obsessed with trying to look years younger than her real age.'

The source added: 'Guy feels that Madonna does not focus on him any more.'

Last month Madonna left her husband's 40th birthday party after an hour and went home with their three children.

Ritchie carried on the celebrations at the Punch Bowl, the pub they own in Mayfair, until the early hours.

In July it was reported that the couple had drawn up a five-point plan as a last-ditch effort to save their marriage.

Rumours of problems intensified after it was suggested Madonna was romantically linked to New York Yankees baseball player Alex Rodriguez - which she strongly denied.

As part of their rescue plan, the couple decided to reduce their work schedules and agreed not to be apart for more than a week at a time.

Second, they agreed the children would be educated in Britain, where the family is based.

Madonna also pledged to cut her gym work-out time from four to three hours a day while Ritchie agreed to attend professional showbusiness events every two months
The couple married in Skibo Castle in Scotland in December 2000 - four months after the singer gave birth to their son Rocco.

Madonna is also mother to Lourdes, who turned 12 yesterday, from a previous relationship to fitness trainer Carlos Leon.

It was the first marriage for Lock, Stock And Two Smoking Barrels director, but the second for Madonna, who had a famously tempestuous marriage with actor Sean Penn in the Eighties.