LONDON: US pop superstar Madonna is to divorce her British film director husband Guy Ritchie, a newspaper reported on October 15, saying an announcement was imminent.

After months of media speculation about strains in the eight-year marriage, Britain’s Sun tabloid cited a “highly-placed source” as saying the split was being pushed for by 40-year-old Ritchie.

“It’s very sad. They were a great couple and brilliant parents. They just couldn’t live together any more,” said the unidentified source, adding that they “can’t bear to live with the pretence any longer.” Madonna’s spokeswoman Barbara Charone told AFP, “We’re not going to know anything until the US wakes up”, adding that she was not even clear if there would be an announcement at that stage.

Madonna, who is in the middle of her ‘Sticky and Sweet’ world tour, married Ritchie in December 2000 in a lavish ceremony at a Scottish castle after meeting at a dinner party given by British rock star Sting. The couple have an eight-year-old son, Rocco, and a two-year-old son adopted in Malawi, David Banda. Madonna also has a daughter, 12-year-old Lourdes, by her former fitness trainer Carlos Leon.

In July, Madonna, 50, took the rare step of issuing a formal denial of reports linking her to US baseball star Alex Rodriguez, adding in a statement, “My husband and I are not planning on getting a divorce.” But according to The Sun, Ritchie has become frustrated, seeing her as a “dead weight around his neck” and now wants a divorce to be agreed quickly. “Guy’s said if they were going to split, it has to be now — and their marriage will finally be over in a matter of weeks,” the source told The Sun.

The newspaper said that a statement “confirming their marriage is over has been prepared and is set to be released imminently.”