Who owns what? | Could legal battle favour Ritchie? | Pictures: Madonna and Guy Ritchie

Madonna and her husband, the British film director Guy Ritchie, are to divorce.

The split was confirmed this afternoon in a joint statement from the couple after a front-page report in The Sun which said that they "can't bear to live with the pretence any longer".

"Madonna and Guy Ritchie have agreed to divorce after seven-and-a-half years of marriage," the statement said. "They have both requested that the media maintain respect for their family at this difficult time. A final settlement has not been agreed upon yet."

The couple married in December 2000 at Skibo Castle in the Scottish Highlands when Ritchie was still riding high from his two major film successes, Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels and Snatch.

But rumours of marital difficulties have dogged the couple for about a year. In July the wife of baseball’s highest paid star, Alex Rodriguez, filed for divorce, blaming Madonna for the collapse of her marriage. Madonna, 50, denied any romantic involvement with Rodriguez.

The speculation was fed by reports in the summer that the singer had lined up Fiona Shackleton, the lawyer who represented Sir Paul McCartney in his recent divorce battle with the model Heather Mills.

With a joint fortune estimated at £300 million at stake - the vast majority earned by the singer - the split could produce a similarly high-profile divorce battle, especially if it is fought out in London, where the couple have mostly lived during their eight year marriage.

The couple also own homes in London, Los Angeles and New York, and a 1,200-acre retreat in Wiltshire.

The couple have a son, Rocco, 8, and David Banda, who was adopted as a baby from Malawi, 2. Madonna has a daughter, Lourdes, 12, from her relationship with the dancer Carlos Leon.

It appears that the couple had planned to wait until after the end of Madonna's Sticky and Sweet tour before announcing their break-up officially. Madonna is to perform concerts tonight and tomorrow in Boston.

They managed to present a united front last month at the premiere in London of Mr Ritchie’s film RocknRolla and at Mr Ritchie's 40th birthday party at the Punch Bowl pub in Mayfair, which is among the assets that will be up for grabs.

Madonna's spokeswoman said that relations between the couple were still cordial, and they expected to agree a divorce settlement without going through the courts.

In the event that they did go to court, legal experts said that it would be in Madonna's interest to fight the battle out in the United States rather than in London, where courts are more favourable to the poorer partner in a marriage.

Ritchie’s career has faltered during the marriage, although he is currently making a Hollywood blockbuster, Sherlock Holmes, with Robert Downey. Madonna has enjoyed career record sales totalling 200 million and is one of the world's most bankable touring artistes.

The needs of the couple’s children would also be considered by the court, as they were in the McCartney divorce, when Ms Mills received £24.3 million after four years of marriage.

Andrew Newbury, a divorce specialist with the Manchester-based firm Pannone, said: "If Guy Ritchie were to instigate proceedings in Britain, then recent precedents mean Madonna would be facing the potential of a much larger settlement than, say, if she lived in California."

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