Guy Ritchie struck out, but A-Rod is just stepping up to the plate.
Madonna’s fairy-tale marriage with the British filmmaker came to a disastrous end because she got way too cozy with the Yankee superstar, sources told The Post yesterday.
Alex Rodriguez was so smitten with the pop queen that they discussed opening a chain of gyms together. He even attended Yom Kippur services with her and her three children in Times Square last week – sans “Snatch” director Ritchie.
“Things got to a breaking point about a month ago,” an insider told The Post. “And they [Madonna and Ritchie] did an intensive, two-week kabbalah course. That didn’t work.”
Now, “A-Rod and Madonna are more involved than ever,” a source close to Rodriguez told USmagazine.com.
The two “are definitely romantic,” the source added.
Madonna, 50, and Ritchie yesterday confirmed that they will divorce – a decision first reported hours earlier by The Post and the British newspaper The Sun.
“Madonna and Guy Ritchie have agreed to divorce after 7½ years of marriage, their representatives confirmed today,” read a statement issued by Madonna’s spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, and Ritchie’s flack, Patrick Keegan.
“They have both requested that the media maintain respect for their family at this difficult time.”
The split could end up costing the superstar singer up to half her $520 million fortune. She may have to battle it out with “RocknRolla” director Ritchie, 40, in a British court.
A source told The Sun the divorce was announced because the couple “can’t bear to live with the pretense any longer” that they were happily married.
Before her statement yesterday, Rosenberg constantly denied reports that Madonna and Ritchie were having marital problems.
Those claims simmered in gossip pages until July, when it was revealed Rodriguez, 34, had been paying Madonna secret late-night visits at her Upper West Side apartment – months after the All-Star third baseman’s wife, Cynthia, gave birth to their second daughter.
Cynthia filed for divorce in July. She accused him of having an “affair of the heart” with Madonna, and sexual flings with other women.
In late July, even as she was denying an affair with A-Rod, Madonna visited him at his summer getaway, a pricey rental house in Westchester County, sources said.
The duo talked about taking their relationship to another level by going into business together and opening a chain of fitness clubs, according to several sources. Both Madonna and Rodriguez are workout fiends.
In September, Rodriguez and his wife reached an out-of-court, confidential divorce settlement, avoiding a messy and costly legal battle.
Even then, Madonna and Ritchie tried to maintain the illusion that their own marriage was working. Behind the scenes, it was disintegrating – and A-Rod‘s constant presence did not appear to be helping.
USmagazine.com yesterday reported that Madonna had “agreed to be discrete about her relationship with A-Rod until” her current “Sticky and Sweet” concert tour ends next year. She’s been keeping her distance.
“Alex has really missed spending time with Madonna. However, he understands the position Madonna’s in,” the source told US magazine. “Madonna wanted to finish her world tour before divorcing.”
Rodriguez’s spokesman, Richard Rubenstein, would not comment when asked whether A-Rod had played a role in busting up Madonna’s marriage.