Maritally challenged Madonna is preparing a blockbuster divorce dossier in which she alleges years of “abuse” dished out by estranged hubby Guy Ritchie.
The singer claims that Ritchie, 10 years her junior, told her that she “looked like a granny” onstage, that she couldn’t act, and that she was “past it” when she hit 50 in August, according to London’s Daily Mail.
The divorce suit will accuse Ritchie of emotional neglect, arguing that he caused the ’80s diva to feel vulnerable and alone, the newspaper said.
Ritchie, whose roguish allure originally drew Madonna to him when they met in 1998, constantly taunted his wife in front of friends, she is charging, according to the paper.
“He would laugh sarcastically at her jokes and [make fun of her] in front of other people,” a source said.
“Outwardly, she’s the Material Girl and bursting with confidence, but turning 50 really hit her hard. Madonna says Guy never said the right things to get her over that hurdle. She felt particularly vulnerable and felt Guy played on that, telling her that she looked ‘past it,’ which would damage her confidence.”
He believed she should do the unthinkable – stop performing and act her age.
“She is alleging he would tell her that she really should give up the live touring and that she looked like a granny compared to the nubile youngsters dancing with her on stage,” the source said.
And while Madonna’s camp is claiming Ritchie treated the diva shabbily, life with Madge was apparently no holiday.
The Material Mom would spend “half the day” working out, making her too tired to have sex – leading to an 18-month dry spell at one point, according to the News of the World.
Even when they did get intimate, Ritchie complained to pals that it was like “cuddling up to a piece of gristle,” the paper reported.
Beside a rigid exercise regime, Madonna’s other obsessions included a meat-free diet and strict adherence to the mystical teachings of the kabbalah.
Food bans were so strict that Ritchie had to wheedle his wife into allowing son Rocco, 8, to have a birthday cake last year, a source told the Mail.
The skeletal-looking superstar apparently engages in weird anti-aging rituals, smearing thousands of dollars’ worth of creams on her skin before sleep and stuffing herself into a plastic suit meant to keep her skin supple.
The mudslinging comes as the two prepare to do battle over custody of their children. Madonna has a daughter, Lourdes, 12, from a previous affair with physical trainer Carlos Leon, and together the Ritchies have two sons: Rocco and their adopted Malawian son, David Banda, 3.
Ritchie reportedly wants to keep Rocco in England, at least during the school year, arguing that it would cause too much upheaval in the child’s life to move him to the United States, the Mail reported.
Madonna, meanwhile, is insisting all three children live with her in the States, the paper said. Madonna and the three children made a quick visit to the Kabbalah Center in Manhattan yesterday as the singer was in town between shows. She had a concert in Toronto scheduled last night.
The Ritchies have hammered out a property and financial settlement that entitles him to $36 million in cash, the couple’s 1,200-acre country estate, and a London pub, the Punch Bowl, which they bought in February, according to The Sun newspaper of London.
The total value to Ritchie comes to about $60 million, a drop in the bucket to Madonna, who is worth an estimated $520 million.
“The negotiations were relatively painless,” a source told The Sun.
The volatile vocalist has enlisted a coterie of close friends to cater to her while she suffers through the nasty divorce, not the least of whom is Yankee superstar Alex Rodriguez, who attended Yom Kippur services with Madonna and her kids in Times Square the week before news of her divorce became public.
Rumors of a romance between the duo first hit the gossip pages in July when it was reported that Rodriguez, 34, had been making late-night visits to Madonna’s Upper West Side apartment.
His wife, Cynthia, who gave birth to the couple’s second daughter this year, filed for divorce this summer, accusing her hubby of having an “affair of the heart” with the singer.
Others helping Madonna through the heartache are best gal pal Gwyneth Paltrow, whose marital advice Madonna allegedly sought during a New York visit in August, and baby daddy Leon, who is suddenly back in the picture, The Sun reports.
Madonna is telling the couple’s shared friends that they must choose sides and cannot continue to be friends with both parties. Those caught in the middle of the dogfight are Sting and wife Trudie Styler; and Sacha Baron Cohen and girlfriend Isla Fisher, the Mail reports.
“The last thing Madonna wants is to be telling a friend about the current state of, for example, the custody battle over the children, and then to find that information has immediately got back to Guy,” a source told the Mail.
Madonna’s marriage to Ritchie has been her longest-lasting relationship. She was married once before, to bad-boy actor Sean Penn, and has had a long list of famous and frisky boy toys, including Vanilla Ice, Dennis Rodman, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and hot-shot 1980s deejay John “Jellybean” Benitez.
scahalan@nypost.com