Seven and a half years and many breakup rumors later and superstar Madonna and her hapless film director husband, Guy Ritchie, 39, are still together. Madonna has admitted problems with her marriage in the past, saying that it isn’t easy to stay with the same person and that “Your soulmate is the person that pushes all your buttons.” Maybe she prefers to keep her buttons covered with a thin layer of grisly muscle, because the 49 year-old cult member is said to be staying apart from her husband most of the time.

Madonna and Guy took a three day trip to romantic Milan, Italy last week without their three children. The Sun reports that they stayed in separate rooms, though, and that both of them were busy working on other projects:

The couple left the kids with a nanny and jetted to Milan, Italy, at the end of last week.

But while they were there Guy, 39, spent his time working on a new commercial with Hollywood star George Clooney.

And Madonna, 49, visited fashion designers to arrange costumes for her forthcoming tour.

The state of the couple’s marriage has been questioned since The Sun revealed in March that they were living in separate beds.

A source close to the couple said of the Milan trip: “They had completely separate rooms, schedules, everything.

“It is all very well organized but it’s not a marriage the way most people understand it.

“They have this attitude like ‘we’re not really a couple but we’re friends and we love each other and raise our kids’.
Frantic

“But the truth is they p*** each other off, don’t agree on anything, don’t see each other or live ‘together’ as they did.

“They are like ships passing in the night.”

After three days in Milan — home to the famous La Scala opera house — Madonna jetted over to New York to rejoin kids Lourdes, ten, Rocco, six, and adopted two-year-old David.

[From The Sun]

If money wasn’t an object it seems like you would just get a huge suite that took up an entire floor instead of opting for a separate room from your spouse. Unless of course you didn’t want to deal with your spouse. At least they stayed in the same hotel, that’s something.

Earlier this month there was a story that Madonna had paid a “secret” visit to one of Britain’s most notorious and hard-hitting divorce lawyers. Her rep said that wasn’t true and that “Madonna has not met with any lawyers nor are there any plans for a divorce.”

The Sun, not the most reliable of sources, claims that Madonna and Guy sleep in separate rooms when they’re at home, too.

Maybe it works for them and they don’t need to get a divorce to be apart.

Madonna and Guy are shown at the I am, Because premiere at Cannes on 5/21/08, thanks to WENN.