After months of speculation, Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie are all set to divorce. The couple, speaking through their PRs (as usual), made the announcement on Wednesday.
Madonna and Ritchie were married in December 2000 at Skibo Castle in the Scottish Highlands and have two sons, seven year old Rocco and David Banda, whose adoption from Malawi was approved in May. Madonna also has a 12 year old daughter, Lourdes, from an earlier relationship.
A settlement has not yet been agreed, but the current idea is a mutual agreement without going to court. The couple are said to be worth about $300 million, although the bulk of the money was earned by Madonna and most of it before she hooked up with Ritchie.
If it were to go to court, Ritchie would undoubtedly be awarded more than he would receive under a private agreement but it is unlikely that it would be the almost standard ‘half’. Madonna, however, did not sign a prenuptual agreement.
It is rumoured that Madonna has already engaged the services of divorce laywer Fiona Shackleton, the woman who succesfully defended the financial interests of Sir Paul McCartney.
Madonna and Ritchie, again speaking through their PR’s, have constantly denied that their marriage was in trouble and that a divorce was ‘in the air’.