Madge & Guy divorce confirmed
Pop star Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie are to divorce after nearly eight years of marriage, their spokeswoman has confirmed.
In a statement given to the Associated Press news agency, she said the pair had not agreed a settlement and asked for their privacy to be respected.
Film director Ritchie, 40, and 50-year-old Madonna married seven years ago at a lavish ceremony in Scotland.
The official confirmation of the divorce follows intense media interest after reports today of an imminent announcement.
And as recently as July, Madonna's publicist denied the pair were planning to divorce, saying their marriage did not "need saving".
The pair also put on a show of unity at last month's London premiere of Guy's RocknRolla, posing for photographs.
But rumours in the press said their relationship was increasingly under strain with escalating rows which led them to communicate via assistants.
This morning, The Sun reported that Madonna had wanted to wait until the end of her Sticky And Sweet tour before announcing the split.
But the date had been brought forward with both parties wanting a divorce finalised before Christmas, it claimed.
Ritchie has broken off from filming in France to fly to the UK to inform his parents of the split.
He will move out of the couple's London home and into their Wiltshire mansion, The Sun report added.
A source told the paper: "Despite huge attempts to patch things up they both knew... divorce was on the cards. It wasn't a matter of 'if' but 'when'. The final straw was Madonna's US tour."