He hopes its amicable, she loads for bear – 3 kids and $600 million at stake

By Jeffrey Jolson

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 6/27/08 — Madonna has reportedly hired Paul McCartney’s divorce lawyer to handle a split with 71/2 year husband, filmmaker Guy Richie. The couple has three children — hers: 11-year old Lourdes, theirs: 7-year-old Rocco and Malawi’s: 2-year-old adopted David.

With nearly eight years under their belts and three kids, they were considered stable for the music biz, however unlikely their marriage might have seemed after they met at a Sting party in 1999.

Ritchie was a young director making movies about London’s east end crime scene like 1998’s “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.” Madonna had seemingly slept with half the men on two continents and would never settle down.

Yet the two drifted apart. CBS News noted that things were a little tense was obvious when the couple were in India earlier this year. From the looks of tabloid photos of their visit, it would have been hard for two people to be further apart in a car.

She has been involved with causes including anti-poverty and AIDS awareness – and devoted to the Kabbalah, a mystical side of Judaism.

Richie will release “RocknRolla” for Warner Bros. Films this fall, starring Gerard Butler, Gemma Arterton and Jeremy Piven, about a Russian mobster in the London underworld. He wrote, directed and produced.

He stands to make about $100 million in a settlement with Madonna, worth $600 million – the couple has no pre-nup. However, his future seems assured anyway with a multi-picture deal with WB that includes the huge comic book “Sgt. Rock” and “Gamekeeper” (both with action mega-producer Joel Silver) as well as “Sherlock Holmes.” These pictures raise Richie from hot indie director to full big-budget actioner.

Though he is trying to stop short of a full divorce, Madonna is using Fiona Shackleton, the divorce lawyer McCartney hired to represent him in his split from Heather Mills. Ritchie is reportedly being represented by London law firm Forsters.

In addition to custody of the children, the couple will likely be negotiating over their properties in London, the English countryside, New York and Los Angeles.