Madonna calls her publicist’s £60m divorce settlement claims ‘misleading’

Madonna has retracted the statement issued by her publicist on Monday, in which Madonna was claimed to have given Guy Ritchie a £60million divorce pay-out.

Madonna, through publicist Liz Rosenberg, was initially said to have issued the statement earlier this week to counter claims that Guy was walking away from their marriage without touching her £300million fortune, or at least only receiving full ownership of their £12million Wiltshire country estate and a £2million lump-sum. The statement suggested that Guy would receive a package worth between £50-60million, made up mostly of property but also a cash “gift” and ongoing child support.

However, sources close to Guy insisted that the figures were “considerably wide of the mark” and the couple have released a joint statement yesterday, claiming the first release was “wrongly issued” and “misleading and inaccurate”.

A source close to Guy told the Mirror that more than anything, the film director was livid that Team Madonna broke their agreement to keep the financial aspects of the split private: “He has tried to keep a dignified silence over the divorce, but some of the comments made by Madonna’s people have understandably infuriated him.

“Guy couldn’t stand by while this happened. It was not just a case of misinformation being leaked out by Madonna’s team to better her image.

“Madonna actually sanctioned her PR to make an official statement about the settlement which had been massively exaggerated. The intention had presumably been to make Guy look money-grabbing and to make Madonna look generous. But it backfired.

“It can’t have been easy to persuade Madonna to admit that her publicists were wrong but it is the ultimate vindication for him.

“He’ll be celebrating with a few beers with his pals now because he sees this as the beginning of the end.”

Madonna is expected to fly to London early next week to allow Guy to spend Christmas with his sons Rocco and David. The boys and their older sister Lourdes, Madonna’s daughter from a previous relationship, are currently in South America while their mum completes the current leg of her Sticky & Sweet Tour.