British paper The Sun is reporting that Madonna is overwhelmed with stress and exhaustion from grueling rehearsals for her upcoming tour as well as from troubles in her personal life, i.e. her brother’s exposing book and her alleged marital mishaps.

The Sun is reporting that the Queen of Pop has reached a point where she is overcome with her busy schedule, the inquisitive eye of the media and the recent publication of an unauthorized biography by her younger brother.

An unnamed person from Madonna’s circle of acquaintances told the paper that she is “less than ok” and that she is “down physically and mentally” due to intense rehearsals for her upcoming “Sweet and Sticky” tour.

Madonna, who is “totally miserable” according to the same source, apparently finds no relief in her close ones, as she “feels that nobody has taken her side.”

Speculation regarding the state of her marriage to British director Guy Ritchie reached an all-time high (or is that low?) recently, with tabloids going into a frenzy over reports that she and Yankees star Alex Rodriguez were having a relationship and that both hers and his marriage stood to suffer from this.

Madonna personally denied having any sort of personal relationship with the slugger. Alex Rodriguez’s wife filed for divorce earlier this month.

Madonna has also denied she and Guy Ritchie wish to divorce.

In the midst of salacious reports in the media and repeated denials from Madonna’s camp, Christopher Ciccone published “Life with My Sister Madonna,” a biography in which Ciccone makes various statements regarding his relationship with his older sister (curiously enough, more often than not he refers to past situations when he did not tell her what he really thought of things but he tells the world now that he did not approve).

The Sun quotes the source saying, “One of her closest pals says she has never seen Madonna so low. She has been feeling low and looking really gaunt.”

The paper adds that Madonna has fired two dancers while her tour manager is so discontented with her alleged mood swings that he is threatening to walk out.

Perhaps it is a good thing that her doctor has ordered her to slow down a bit and rest, taking a break from rehearsals and allowing her injured knee to mend. She has apparently been found to be suffering from anemia.