Swift end granted for Madonna, Ritchie’s union
Published 10:46 pm Friday, November 21, 2008
LONDON — After the wedding in a Scottish castle, the mansion on a green English estate and the drinks in their own pub, Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s eight-year marriage ended Friday in a dreary London courtroom.
The case of “Ciccone M.L. v Ritchie G.S.” was one of 17 divorce decrees granted by Judge Caroline Reid during a hearing in a harshly lit London court that was completed in a few minutes.
There was no legal obligation for Madonna, 50, or Ritchie, 40, to attend the hearing at which they were granted a decree nisi, the first of two stages of divorce. There was no sign of the couple and the room was filled instead with journalists tracking the dying days of an A-list celebrity romance. The divorce can become final after six weeks and a day with the granting of a decree absolute.
Court papers signed by Madonna in Los Angeles confirmed that the queen of pop petitioned for divorce on the basis of Ritchie’s “unreasonable behavior,” and that there is no need to apply family law in the case — meaning that the couple had reached their own agreements over their assets and children.
Madonna and Ritchie have two children, Rocco, 8, and David Banda, 3, who was adopted from Malawi in 2006. The singer has a 12-year-old daughter, Lourdes, from a previous relationship with personal trainer Carlos Leon.
The couple own homes in southwest England, London, Los Angeles and New York.
Madonna and Ritchie appear to have avoided a courtroom battle like the one between former Beatle Paul McCartney and model Heather Mills. Mills has said media coverage of the rancorous divorce had pushed her to the brink of suicide.
