Rocco at risk of losing out on last days of childhood, Madonna and Guy told
Judge’s plea over custody battle
MADONNA and Guy Ritchie were warned by a judge yesterday that they risk ruining the ‘precious’ last days of their son’s childhood if they continue their bitter custody battle.
Mr Justice Alistair MacDonald said it would be a ‘very great tragedy’ if any more of the ‘fast receding days’ of 15-year-old Rocco’s youth were taken up by the dispute.
The judge said Rocco – who he described as being a ‘credit’ to his parents – also wanted them to stop their acrimonious court fight over which of them he should live with.
In a judgment that ended the British element of their transatlantic legal dispute, Mr Justice MacDonald reminded the singer and film director: ‘Summer does not last forever. The boy very quickly becomes the man.
‘It would be a very great tragedy for Rocco if any more of the precious and fast receding days of his childhood were to be taken up by this dispute.
‘Far better for each of his parents to spend that time enjoying, in turn, the company of the mature, articulate and reflective young man who is their son and who is a very great credit to them both.’
The legal war between Ritchie, 47, and Madonna, 57 – neither of whom were in the High Court yesterday – began in December last year when Rocco moved in with his father while travelling through Europe with his mother during her Rebel Heart tour.
When he failed to return to Madonna in New York, where he usually lives, she instructed lawyers in London and the US. Rocco is living in London with his father and his new wife, the model Jacqui Ainsley, 33.
Madonna issued proceedings under child abduction laws against Ritchie in London, accusing him of illegally retaining Rocco, but was given permission yesterday to withdraw the application.
However, hearings are due to continue in New York.
Mr Justice MacDonald said: ‘For his part, Rocco welcomes his mother’s decision to withdraw her proceedings under the 1980 Hague Convention as a substantive step toward that which he most desires, namely an end to all litigation between his parents in respect of him.’
Granting Madonna permission to withdraw her application, the judge again pleaded with her and Ritchie to resolve their differences outside the courtroom.
‘At the root of these proceedings ... is a temporary breakdown in trust,’ he said. ‘For all the media coverage, comment and analysis, this is a case born out of circumstances that arise for countless separated parents the world over. The exist- ence of parallel proceedings in two jurisdictions, before two judges with two sets of lawyers is introducing unnecessary and unhelpful complexity and hindering attempts at settle- ment, as well as incurring considerable expense.’
Mr Justice MacDonald’s concerns echo the comments of a New York judge involved in the case who has previously said it was ‘extremely troubling’ that Madonna and Ritchie could not settle their differences privately.
Madonna, a mother of four, has been pictured recently on stage in Australia dressed as a clown for a bizarre stand-up comedy gig in front of a giant picture of Rocco. She kept fans waiting for four hours before breaking down in tears.
She also reportedly wept during a performance in New Zea-
‘Breakdown in trust’
‘If I talk about him I might cry’
land, telling fans: ‘There is no love stronger than a mother for her son. If I talk about him too much I might cry.’
With the tour now complete, it has been reported that Madonna will be flying in to London this week to see Rocco and try to resolve the matter.
She and Ritchie married in 2000 but divorced in 2008 over his ‘unreasonable behaviour’.
He is currently directing Jude Law in Knights of the Round Table.
The hearings in New York are due to resume on June 1.