Here’s one we never seem to get tired of: pop superstar Madonna and her British director husband Guy Ritchie are heading for divorce. For the umpteenth time in nearly eight years.

It has been said before: isn’t it interesting how, when two celebrities begin a relationship, we all wait eagerly for a marriage announcement and once they do get married, we wait with interest to hear it’s not working and divorce is looming?

Madonna and Guy Ritchie were supposed to divorce all through this summer, according to insistent reports that they had grown apart, that they could no longer make their marriage work and that they had even tried marriage counseling but alas, to no avail.

Madonna addressed the rumors, issuing a statement in which she said her marriage to Ritchie needed no “saving” and that they were as fine as ever. Ritchie himself said that as far as he was aware, his marriage was well.

Regarding the media’s observation that the couple had hardly been seen together in public or at events over the past months, Madonna’s publicist explained that both artists had grueling schedules and that they had been working on different continents, Madonna in the US on her now ongoing Sticky & Sweet world tour, Ritchie in the UK on his now released film “RocknRolla.”

They then proceeded to appear together at a couple of events, such as the 61st edition of the Cannes Film Festival in May, where the singer presented her documentary on Malawi, “I Am Because We Are.”

Things were quiet for a while afterwards. Madonna embarked on her ambitious tour in August, Ritchie released his film in September, both projects were received well by the respective critics, and the gossip quieted down.

Only to resurge this week with a report from British paper The Sun, which says the couple will announce their split “imminently.” Imminently meaning that Madonna and Ritchie want their divorce finalized before Christmas.

The paper reports that the spouses have been sharing an increasing amount of fights, determining them to decide that a split was the next step. The singer reportedly wished to announce the news after her world tour had ended, in mid-December, but that seems too far away to the purportedly quarrelling spouses.

Madonna, who was reintroduced to the world as Madge, Ritchie’s pet name for her, some years ago, married the director in December 2000 at Skibo Castle in the Scottish Highlands.

They are parents to daughter Lourdes, 12, from a previous relationship of the singer’s, son Rocco, 8, and son David Banda, 2, whose adoption from a Malawi orphanage was finalized in May of this year.

Madonna, 50, is currently in New York delighting fans with her tour. She and Ritchie, 40, attended the premiere of “RocknRolla” in London last month, walking on the red carpet arm-in-arm and posing for photographs.