Madonna denies affair with baseball star
Madonna has denied reports of an affair with top US baseball player Alex Rodriguez.
The pop star issued the statement as lawyers acting for the wife of Rodriguez were preparing to file for divorce later today.
Madonna insisted she was not splitting from her husband, British film maker Guy Ritchie.
“My husband and I are not planning on getting a divorce. I know Alex Rodriguez through Guy Oseary, who manages both of us.
“I brought my kids to a Yankee game. I am not romantically involved in any way with Alex Rodriguez,” she said.
“I have nothing to do with the state of his marriage or what spiritual path he may choose to study,” the statement continued, apparently referring to reports that the singer had introduced the sportsman to the form of Jewish mysticism known as Kabbalah that she practises.
Cynthia Rodriguez, who married the New York Yankees star in 2002, says the marriage is over because of his extramarital affairs, according to US news reports.
Mrs Rodriguez recently visited the Paris home of rocker Lenny Kravitz, who said she came to France to escape the media frenzy in New York and denied that anything improper had happened.
Lawyer Maurice Kutner said: “She feels that she has exhausted every opportunity to salvage the marriage, and that Alex has emotionally abandoned her and the children and has left her with no choice but to divorce him.”
The couple married on November 2, 2002, in Dallas. They have two children, Natasha Alexander and Ella Alexander, who was born April 21.
