Pop music star Madonna said in a statementon yesterday that she
doesn't have an affair with Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez and she is not
planning to get divorced from her British husband Guy 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.
Rumors that the London-based couple planned to split have been circulating
for months, fueled most recently by reports that she had hired a lawyer to
divorce film maker Ritchie.
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.
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).