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Pop star Madonna has denied having an affair with Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez, saying in a statement to People magazine she is not planning to get divorced from her British husband Guy Ritchie.
Rumours that the London-based couple planned to split have been circulating for months, fuelled most recently by reports that she had hired a lawyer to divorce filmmaker Ritchie.
"My husband and I are not planning on getting a divorce," the singer told People.
"I brought my kids to a Yankee game. I am not romantically involved in any way with Alex Rodriguez. I have nothing to do with the state of his marriage or what spiritual path he may choose to study," she said.
People magazine reported Rodriguez's wife, Cynthia, had left the Yankee baseball star over the alleged affair with Madonna, citing sources close to the situation.
The speculation about Madonna's marriage reached fever pitch in the last two weeks in London, where the Daily Mirror newspaper dedicated two front pages to the plight of the couple's relationship.
Madonna, 49, and Ritchie, 39, married in December 2000 at Skibo Castle in northeast Scotland. They met at a party hosted by ex-Police frontman Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler.
Their son, Rocco, was several months old on their wedding day, and in 2006 Madonna applied to adopt David Banda, a boy from Malawi whose mother had died shortly after his birth. The adoption was approved by a Malawian court in May.
Madonna also has a daughter, Lourdes, from an earlier relationship. She was married once before, to Hollywood actor Sean Penn, in the 1980s.
Madonna is one of the most successful rock stars of all time, with global album sales estimated at more than 200 million copies. A multi-Grammy award winner, she was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in March.
Ritchie is best known for his movies, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000), but he has come in for critical maulings since then, most notably when he directed Madonna in Swept Away (2002).
Madonna brushed off the rumours as media fabrication.
"I have learned over the years not to take accusations and the many false reports about me very seriously," she told People.
"Fiction and fact seem to be perceived as one and the same by people who read both newspapers and the internet."
Media reports later said that the wife of Rodriguez was planning to immediately file for divorce.
Cynthia Rodriguez, who married the New York Yankees star in 2002, says the marriage is over because of his extramarital affairs, according Miami news reports on Sunday.
Lawyer Earle Lilly, who said he was hired by Cynthia Rodriguez last week to launch the divorce case, told Houston TV station KTRK that the player's "relationship with Madonna was the final straw" for his client.
Another of her lawyers, Maurice Kutner, told The Miami Herald: "She feels that she has exhausted every opportunity to salvage the marriage, and that Alex has emotionally abandoned her and the (two) children and has left her with no choice but to divorce him."
The suit was expected to be filed immediately in Dade County Family Court, but as of Sunday the court's website did not list any divorce filing involving Cynthia Rodriguez.
Alex Rodriguez has refused to comment.
Rumours that the London-based couple planned to split have been circulating for months, fuelled most recently by reports that she had hired a lawyer to divorce filmmaker Ritchie.
"My husband and I are not planning on getting a divorce," the singer told People.
"I brought my kids to a Yankee game. I am not romantically involved in any way with Alex Rodriguez. I have nothing to do with the state of his marriage or what spiritual path he may choose to study," she said.
People magazine reported Rodriguez's wife, Cynthia, had left the Yankee baseball star over the alleged affair with Madonna, citing sources close to the situation.
The speculation about Madonna's marriage reached fever pitch in the last two weeks in London, where the Daily Mirror newspaper dedicated two front pages to the plight of the couple's relationship.
Madonna, 49, and Ritchie, 39, married in December 2000 at Skibo Castle in northeast Scotland. They met at a party hosted by ex-Police frontman Sting and his wife, Trudie Styler.
Their son, Rocco, was several months old on their wedding day, and in 2006 Madonna applied to adopt David Banda, a boy from Malawi whose mother had died shortly after his birth. The adoption was approved by a Malawian court in May.
Madonna also has a daughter, Lourdes, from an earlier relationship. She was married once before, to Hollywood actor Sean Penn, in the 1980s.
Madonna is one of the most successful rock stars of all time, with global album sales estimated at more than 200 million copies. A multi-Grammy award winner, she was inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame in March.
Ritchie is best known for his movies, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) and Snatch (2000), but he has come in for critical maulings since then, most notably when he directed Madonna in Swept Away (2002).
Madonna brushed off the rumours as media fabrication.
"I have learned over the years not to take accusations and the many false reports about me very seriously," she told People.
"Fiction and fact seem to be perceived as one and the same by people who read both newspapers and the internet."
Media reports later said that the wife of Rodriguez was planning to immediately file for divorce.
Cynthia Rodriguez, who married the New York Yankees star in 2002, says the marriage is over because of his extramarital affairs, according Miami news reports on Sunday.
Lawyer Earle Lilly, who said he was hired by Cynthia Rodriguez last week to launch the divorce case, told Houston TV station KTRK that the player's "relationship with Madonna was the final straw" for his client.
Another of her lawyers, Maurice Kutner, told The Miami Herald: "She feels that she has exhausted every opportunity to salvage the marriage, and that Alex has emotionally abandoned her and the (two) children and has left her with no choice but to divorce him."
The suit was expected to be filed immediately in Dade County Family Court, but as of Sunday the court's website did not list any divorce filing involving Cynthia Rodriguez.
Alex Rodriguez has refused to comment.
