Madonna dismissed rumors Sunday that she and husband Guy Ritchie were getting a divorce, denying that a romantic entanglement with Yankee third-baseman Alex Rodriguez had broken up her marriage.
"My husband and I are not planning on getting a divorce," the singer said in a statement People Magazine. "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.
Rodriguez was seen coming and going from Madonna’s apartment building in Manhattan in recent weeks, stirring rumors that A-Rod's relationship with Madonna had ended his marriage. Rodriguez' wife Cynthia filed for divorce Monday morning in Miami.
"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 ballplayer to the form of Jewish mysticism known as Kabbalah.
“I have learned over the years not to take accusations and the many false reports about me very seriously," Madonna told People. "I also appreciate how fiction and fact seem to be perceived as one and the same by people who read both newspapers and the Internet."
Cynthia Rodriguez, who married the baseball player in 2002, said the marriage is over because of the All-Star's extramarital affairs, according to reports that appeared Sunday on the Web sites of Houston television station KTRK and The Miami Herald.
Houston attorney Earle Lilly, who said he was hired by Cynthia Rodriguez last week to launch the divorce case, told KTRK the star's "relationship with Madonna was the final straw for Mrs. Rodriguez."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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