Madonna and Guy at the Arthur and the Invisibles premiere in January, 2007
Yesterday we reported that husband and wife Guy Ritchie and pint-sized ball of ego Madonna were sleeping in separate rooms on a recent working vacation. The two have been married for seven and a half years, with years of interview snippets and gossip suggesting their marriage is on the rocks. A little over two weeks ago there was a story, which Madonna’s rep of course denied, that she had met with one of Britain’s most notorious divorce lawyers, Nicholas Mostyn. Now a very reputable British source, the Times, is reporting that Madonna just met with divorce lawyer Fiona Shackleton. It makes sense that Madonna would meet with Shakleton, because she’s the other half of the high-powered legal team who represented Paul McCartney in his divorce from Heather Mills. You might remember Shakelton as the elegant lawyer who was treated to a pitcher of water over the head in the courtroom by a raving Heather Mills. Mills went away with $33 million in cash but it was much less than she was possibly entitled to.
Now Madonna hopes to recreate McCartney’s success by hiring the exact same legal team that helped him preserve so much of his fortune in his divorce:
She did it for Macca — now she can do it for Madonna. Fiona Shackleton, the divorce lawyer who ensured that Sir Paul McCartney retained all but £24.3 million of his £825 million fortune, has been lined up by the 49-year-old pop star.
Madonna, whose fortune is estimated at £300 million, is understood to be seeking legal advice on a possible divorce from her husband of seven years, the film director Guy Ritchie.
Ms Shackleton, 52, is the lawyer of choice for the rich and famous after what was regarded as the spectacularly well-handled split of Sir Paul from Heather Mills, who was pushing at one point for as much as £80 million.
Dubbed the “steel magnolia” for her tough but pragmatic negotiation tactics, Ms Shackleton instructed the top divorce silk, Nicholas Mostyn, QC. This so-called legal dream team secured such a successful result that Ms Mills, in fury and frustration, emptied a jug of water over Ms Shackleton’s head after hearing the judge’s ruling.
[From Times Online via TMZ]
As I mentioned when we covered this story a couple of weeks ago, this could turn into a media circus. We’ll have to wait and see how many details are made public. Guy seems like the quiet, calm type who is not likely to make a fool of himself in court if it comes to that. If it’s up to Madonna she’ll keep tight control over the details of her divorce. Given how interested the press is in this story, the details that get leaked could be very interesting.
Great header picture CB
well…. hopefully madame du self centered will remember that even though he is not the father of Lourdes he has been VERY involved with her and perhaps she will not turn into the ugly velocoraptor we know she is. I wonder… how “spirtually centered” this is.
Hope details doesn’t go ‘public’ for the children’s sake. Divorce is hard for the entire family.
Agreed. It’s not often you see Madonna behind Guy….
Just a thought: Madonna is the original queen of media manipulation. Is it possible that this is her way of getting people to talk about her? Go in and talk to a lawyer? Their marriage wouldn’t be the first to be more of a partnership. Madonna loves to be talked about and all this speculation makes me wonder.
He looks miserable in all the pics of them together.
I’d bet they’ve been wanting to split for a while but waited until David’s adoption was official and complete.
Was there a prenup?
I agree TexasMom- I thought their marriage really crashed and burned with the whole Malawai incident. After that, Guy and Madonna rarely did anything together.
I hope Guy gets half!
Baluk : there is no prenup or if there is one, it is not a legal paper in court in Great-Britain (where the couple wed). It is going to be the tough battle as it always is for those who marry on British ground.
I don’t see Guy as trying to pimp out Madonna but if she has all the good attornies on her team, she’ll be sure to have enough money to live on Kabbalah water for the rest of her life. And much more.
I don’t want details about divorces but I’m interested in knowing how much Guy is going to take home in the end (not much I think) if these two decide to separate legally.
No matter what, it’s sad to see a family break apart, if that’s the case here. And for the other posters, why so much venom? If she had written books about happy marriages, then bets are off, but I don’t think she made herself, or her family the poster children for married bliss. And she certainly hasn’t said nasty things about Guy publicly or he about her.
Madonna, the brilliant marketer & business woman needs to find a brilliant, geeky billionaire. She’s gotta stop w/all of these men who cannot shine her shoes. She needs a man in her league or above her. She must be tiring of being the breadwinner & uber human. Go ahead, Madge, you can get whomever you want.
Madonna is an old hag!
If I looklike that when I’m pushin 50 I’ll be well happy Devilgirl- notice from your pic you’re a bit of a dog so not much room to talk!
I’m with Ron. Said it before, I think this is sad, I liked them together. And I don’t believe for one minute that there are going to be any nasty or salacious revelations (public or otherwise) here, just a civilized separation with both parties going their separate ways but continuing to be the good parents they’ve always been to their 3 kids. I know the gossip potential is huge but I don’t think it’s going to happen.