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Madonna denies affair
07/07/2008 07:40 - (SA)
Anthony Boadle
New York - Pop star Madonna denied
having an affair with Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez and said in
a statement to People magazine on Sunday she is not planning to
get divorced from her British husband Guy Ritchie.
Rumours that the London-based couple planned to split have
been circulating for months, fuelled most recently by reports
that she had hired a lawyer to divorce film maker Ritchie.
"My husband and I are not planning on getting a divorce,"
the singer said in a statement to People.
"I brought my kids to a Yankee game. I am not romantically
involved in any way with Alex Rodriguez. I have nothing to do
with the state of his marriage or what spiritual path he may
choose to study," she said.
'Wife left Rodriguez'
People magazine reported on Sunday that Rodriguez's wife,
Cynthia, had left the Yankee baseball star over the alleged
affair with Madonna, citing sources close to the situation.
The speculation about Madonna's marriage reached a fever
pitch in the last two weeks in London, where the Daily Mirror
newspaper dedicated two front pages to the plight of the
couple's relationship.
Madonna, 49, and Ritchie, 39, married in December 2000 at
Skibo Castle in northeast Scotland.
They met at a party hosted
by ex-Police frontman Sting and his wife Trudie Styler.
Their son, Rocco, was several months old on their wedding
day, and in 2006 Madonna applied to adopt David Banda, a boy
from Malawi whose mother had died shortly after his birth.
The
adoption was approved by a Malawian court in May.
Madonna also has a daughter, Lourdes, from an earlier
relationship. She was married once before, to Hollywood actor
Sean Penn, in the 1980s.
'Media Fabrication'
Madonna is one of the most successful rock stars of all
time, with global album sales estimated at more than 200
million copies.
A multi-Grammy award winner, she was inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March.
Ritchie is best known for his movies Lock, Stock and Two
Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000), but he has come in
for critical maulings since then, most notably when he directed
Madonna in Swept Away (2002).
Madonna brushed off the rumours as media fabrication.
"I have learned over the years not to take accusations and
the many false reports about me very seriously," she told
People.
"Fiction and fact seem to be perceived as one and the same
by people who read both newspapers and the internet."
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South Africa
