Estranged spouses Madonna and Guy Ritchie have issued a statement denying they settled their divorce for $76 million and say such details will remain private despite “obvious media interest.”

 

Liz Rosenberg, Madonna’s spokeswoman in New York, the same person who this past summer was busy issuing statements denying a romantic relationship between the singer and New York Yankees slugger Alex Rodriguez, released a statement on Monday to the Associated Press, detailing the divorce settlement the music icon had reached with her soon to be ex-husband, British director Guy Ritchie.

Rosenberg said Madonna had given Ritchie between 50 and 60 million pounds ($76-92 million) as part of their divorce and commented that it must be the largest payout in celebrity divorce history.

 

Madonna and Ritchie are now saying that this is not the case and that figures were “wrongly issued” to the AP. The couple said they had tried to maintain a “dignified silence” in regards with their divorce, while aware of the “obvious media interest.”

In accordance with their wish for discretion, the financial details of their divorce settlement are to remain private they said, branding the information given this week as a “misleading and inaccurate” statement.

 

Madonna and Ritchie added they were both happy with their agreement and that they were more concerned with the well-being of their three children.

Monday, Rosenberg would only say that custody arrangements had not been settled yet between the pair.

Madonna and Ritchie have eight-year-old son Rocco and three-year-old son David, whose adoption from Malawi was finalized earlier this year; he has been living with the Ritchies since 2006. Madonna has twelve-year-old daughter Lourdes, from a previous relationship with fitness trainer Carlos Leon.

It has been speculated in the media that Rocco and David will spend time both in the US and the UK, as Madonna is said to be returning to her native country while Ritchie will remain in his. Lourdes is said to continue living with her mother.

 

Madonna, 50, is currently in the midst of her Sticky and Sweet world tour. During her two-decade career she has sold more than 200 million records, in one sense fulfilling the wish she cheekily expressed on MTV at the beginning of her career – that she wanted to rule the world.

Ritchie, 40, is presently filming “Sherlock Holmes” in the UK for Warner Bros. It stars Robert Downey Jr. as the title character, Jude Law as Dr. Watson and Rachel McAdams as femme fatale Irene Adler and is slated for an October 2009 release.

 

The couple was married at Skibo Castle in Scotland in December 2000. They announced their separation in October, following months of intense speculation on the well-being of their relationship. They were granted a preliminary divorce in late November and the divorce is expected to be finalized in January.

Their combined wealth has been estimated at $525 million, with Madonna contributing the most to this figure.