Madonna v Guy: Mudslinging in Vogue as war begins

After all, Madonna values her privacy too much and Ritchie is, well, just a nice bloke.

But after an initial official statement from the couple calling for privacy and respect, neither party has been able to resist the chance to throw barbed comments at each other.

Madonna appeared to kick off the hostilities at a concert in Boston when she dedicated a song to "the emotionally retarded" – a quip believed to refer to her husband.

"Friends" of Ritchie responded by saying the director could no longer tolerate his wife's "controlling" behaviour.

They gave intimate details of her lengthy beauty and exercise routines, saying Madonna was "obsessed" with ageing and describing evening meals of fish and steamed vegetables "eaten in stony silence".

Various unnamed sources from the Madonna camp then lambasted Ritchie for his "unsympathetic" attitude towards his wife – saying the marriage had been doomed since Ritchie failed to comfort her after she had a riding accident.

And yesterday Ritchie's father entered the debate, branding his daughter-in-law "beastly" as the couple's bitter split turned more sour by the hour.

John Ritchie said it had been "horrid" to read about how Madonna, 50, had called his film director son an "emotional retard" in front of thousands of fans at a recent Boston concert.

The singer is also reported to have asked her husband "Did you ever actually love me?" because she felt he did not show her enough sympathy when she fell off a horse.

Mr Ritchie snr condemned Madonna' comments after reading about his son's acrimonious marriage break-up in the morning papers.

Asked for his feelings towards Madonna, he said: "She is being beastly. She is saying 'did you ever love me?'. It goes back to a time when she fell off her horse and she's blaming him for that.

"She's calling him an emotional retard. When he's being bashed by her it's horrid."

Publicist and media analyst Mark Borkowski said it was common practice for stars to leak information by means of close friends.

He added: "When something is a known truth, the newspaper will sometimes put it down as 'a friend' to protect themselves – but they have to be fairly sure of their facts.

"Somebody in the camp will give a story which is absolutely reliable but won't put their name to it. That would have to come from somebody who is very well connected – they take it on trust that the story will be written in a sympathetic way.

"In these legally sensitive times, newspapers have to know if they are getting a piece of information from an insider that it is absolutely solid."

What Ritchie's 'friends' say

THE film director is reportedly relieved he no longer has to keep up the "circus" of pretending everything was all right in his marriage. "The laughs were long gone," said one friend.

Those close to Ritchie say the relationship with Madonna was "less about passion and more about control" – and he struggled to live with her determination to dominate every aspect of their lives.

Meals at the Ciccone-Ritchie household were said to be "eaten in stony silence" and consisted of steamed fish and seasonal vegetables. If the RocknRolla director fancied a pie and a pint, he had to sneak out to the pub.

Madonna is said to be obsessed with ageing, wrapping herself in linen and towels to avoid the sun and covering herself with thick layers of moisturising creams at night.

The star is reported to cover herself with creams costing 500 a throw and to sleep in a plastic body-suit.

Ritchie is devoted to his children and wants them to grow up in the UK.

He is reported to be furious about his wife's attempts to blame him for the split, saying she was obsessed with her public image and was trying to portray herself as some sort of "global soothsayer".

What Madonna's 'friends' say

MADONNA believes Guy Ritchie is "typical of emotionally stunted" English men. She blames the film director's public school education, saying it has given him a "no nonsense", unsympathetic approach to marriage.

The star reportedly told "friends" the marriage was "doomed" from the day she fell off her horse on her 47th birthday and broke eight bones. According to friends, Madonna expected her husband to fly to her side, but Ritchie reacted by saying: "You're a tough bird", leading the star to say she felt "emotionally abandoned".

Madonna is "closer than ever" to Alex Rodriguez and is planning a trip to Malawi with him. But her relationship with the baseball star was only one of many problems Ritchie and Madonna were facing.

According to sources close to Madonna, the star and her husband had been leading separate lives for some time. Ritchie made no secret of his lack of interest in Kabbalah – the mystic brand of Judaism followed by Madonna.

A key element in the divorce proceedings will be the question of where the couple's three children will make their home. Madonna is said by friends to want her children to grow up in the "more cosmopolitan" atmosphere of her beloved New York.