Pop megastar Madonna and her film director husband Guy Ritchie are to divorce, a newspaper reported on Wednesday, saying an announcement was imminent.
After months of media speculation about strains in the eight-year marriage, The 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 source, adding that they "can't bear to live with the pretence any longer".
The American singer'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 rock star Sting.
The couple have an eight-year-old son, Rocco, and a three-year-old son adopted in Malawi, David Banda. Madonna also has a 12-year-old daughter called 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 -- famous for gangster films including "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" -- 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."
Madonna's mother-in-law, Ritchie's mother Lady Amber Leighton, made no comment to reporters who gathered outside her west London home, saying: "We are not talking to press and we won't be all day."
The singer was believed to be in Boston, according to the schedule of her world tour which includes dates in the United States and Canada over the next few weeks. Her next stop is Toronto on Saturday.
Top celebrity publicist Max Clifford said that marriages between two high-profile people were bound to have strains.
"It's always difficult for two people very much in the public spotlight, that have succesful careers, to also have a successful relationship," he told Sky News television.
"It's almost a conflict because of the demands of the business, the demands of the career... you can only see potential clashes along the way and possibly that's what's been happening," he added.
Madonna, born Madonna Louise Ciccone, was previously married to US actor Sean Penn, from 1985 to 1989.
In July, Madonna's estranged brother said he believed she was committed to her marriage to Ritchie.
"She's not the kind of person just to walk away," Christopher Ciccone told US television, adding that the pop legend will "do what's best for her family and her kids.
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