Madonna and Guy Ritchie Announce Their Divorce

It's official. Madonna and Guy Ritchie have announced their plans to divorce.

"Madonna and Guy Ritchie have agreed to divorce after 7? years of marriage," their reps said in a joint statement, according to E! Online. "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."

"It is sad," Madonna publicist Liz Rosenberg told E! News.

Trouble materialized for the Material Girl and her marriage in August when reports surfaced that she had a romantic tryst with Alex Rodriguez. Ritchie denied the claims at the 50th birthday party he threw for her, and Rosenberg insisted their marriage "does not need saving."

British tabloids were all over their impending split Tuesday. The Sun reported their fighting has become incessant. The Daily Mirror said Ritchie took time out from filming his latest movie, Sherlock Holmes, in France to head back to Great Britain to inform his parents that he and Madonna were planning to divorce.

According to U.K. reports, Madonna has hired celebrity divorce lawyer Fiona "Steel Magnolia" Shackleton, who supervised Paul McCartney's split from Heather Mills, E! Online reported.

Since the two did not have a prenuptial agreement, Ritchie could get as much as $100 million of Madonna's estimated $500 million plus, according to E! Online.

Madonna, 50, and Ritchie, 40, were married in Scotland in December 2000. They have two children together, 8-year-old Rocco and 3-year-old David, whom they adopted two years ago in Malawi. Madonna also has a 12-year-old daughter, Lourdes.

This will be Madonna's second marriage to end in divorce; she and Sean Penn called it quits in 1989 after four years.