Madonna and Guy Ritchie will not celebrate the eighth anniversary of their marriage. They are divorcing. True professionals that they are, they are both busy with work too.

Madonna and Guy Ritchie finally took pity on the media and put an end to the continuous and dizzying reports regarding their presumably “imminent” divorce by confirming it Wednesday through the singer’s spokeswoman.

Liz Rosenberg, the same spokeswoman for Madonna who was busy this spring and summer denying reports about trouble in the pop star’s marriage, about an alleged affair with New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, about pending separation, said Wednesday that Madonna and Ritchie had “agreed” to divorce.

The short statement only added that the couple asked the media to “maintain respect for their family at this difficult time.”

Madonna, 50, and Ritchie, 40, married in December 2000 at Skibo Castle in the Scottish Highlands. Earlier that year, in August, the couple had welcomed their first child together, son Rocco. They were introduced to each other by common friends Trudie Styler and Sting.

They are also parents to Lourdes, 12, from a previous relationship of Madonna’s, and David Banda, 3, whose adoption from Malawi was finalized in May of this year. The little boy has been living with the family since 2006.

The pop superstar was back on her game following the announcement of her divorce, performing Wednesday night in Boston, as scheduled in her current Sticky and Sweet tour. According to reports, she never faltered throughout the two-hour show and gave fans exactly what they were expecting: full-blown entertainment.

That same day, Ritchie was in the UK, near London, on the set of his latest cinematographic project, reports People magazine. The British director is currently filming “Sherlock Holmes” for Warner Bros., with Robert Downey Jr in the starring role.

A number of British publications reported earlier this week, with what sounded like certainty, that a divorce was imminent for the two. The Sun reported that the couple wants to be a couple no more by Christmas – a finalized divorce for the holidays which they do not celebrate anyway since Madonna practices Kabbalah.