Just because Madonna and Guy Ritchie haven't been expressing themselves in public lately doesn't mean their seven-year marriage is on the rocks.
"I am delighted to confirm that Mr. and Mrs. Guy Ritchie remain happily married," the singer's publicist, Liz Rosenberg, said in a statement released Monday after the status of the couple's union took a harsher than usual beating in the tabloids.
"Though they were in different countries recently—Madonna in the U.S. doing promotion for her upcoming album, Hard Candy, and Guy finishing up post-production on his new film, RocknRolla, as well as completing a Nike commercial and working on several scripts in England—the family are joyfully back together at home in London. All is well and wonderful in the Ritchie household."
Talk of a rift among the Ritchies built to a fever pitch after the Snatch director wasn't on hand in New York last Tuesday to see his missus get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, nor was he by her side last month at the star-studded fundraiser she cochaired at United Nations Plaza to benefit UNICEF and her own Raising Malawi charity.
Ritchie also failed to make it to the Berlin premiere of Madonna's feature directorial debut, the punk-rock romance Filth and Wisdom, on Feb. 13.
These absences instantly fueled speculation that the high-powered duo was on the outs, despite recent good news, such as a Malawian government minister's decision to help ease final approval of their 2-year-old son David's adoption. They're also parents to 7-year-old Rocco and 11-year-old Lourdes, Madonna's daughter from a previous relationship.
On Monday, Britain's Sun tabloid ran the headline, "Madge's Marriage 'Hangs by a Thread,'" on its website, while the similarly reputed rag News of the World quoted a source saying, "Madonna and Guy are over. It's all very amicable."
Other anonymously sourced reports have Madonna moving permanently back to the U.S. with the kids, and only the kids.
Meanwhile, Madonna's own father-in-law, John Ritchie, recently acknowledged to Closer magazine that the pair are "not spending any time together. Madonna is busy in America with the children, and Guy wants to stay in the UK. They won't be spending Easter together either."
"Guy is very busy over here in England," the senior Ritchie continued, "and didn't make it to her film premiere last week. He spends his weekends in the countryside and the rest of the time in London."
Madonna and Ritchie tied the knot on Dec. 22, 2000. It was the Material Girl's second trip down the aisle. She divorced first husband Sean Penn in 1989 after four years together.