Making love to Madonna 'was like cuddling a piece of gristle'



A gaunt-looking Madonna was seen leaving the Kabbalah Centre in New York on Saturday.



Wearing shades and a baseball cap it seemed the marriage break-up was taking its toll on the 50-year-old mega-star.

But the pop queen's obsession with maintaining a perfect body has been cited as one of the factors behind her split with Guy Ritchie.



Madonna appeared gaunt as she left the Kabbalah Centre in New York on Saturday

Her insistence on sticking to a gruelling four-hour exercise routine has been blamed for destroying the pair's seven-and-a-half year marriage.

The strict regime reportedly meant the couple went for 18 months without making love.



When they did find time to make love, it was like 'cuddling up to a piece of gristle', Ritchie is said to have told friends.

Madonna's exercise regime reportedly meant her and husband Guy Ritchie went for 18 months without making love

A close friend told the News of the World: 'When the cracks began to show in their marriage, Madonna wouldn't budge.



'Guy was pleading with her to spend more time with him but she wouldn't have it. She'd insist she did her four-hour workout and that would be half the day gone.'

'They've been apart so much in the last two years the times when they could have made love have been pretty limited.



'And they've been in separate bedrooms a lot after rows so there has been no making-up. They might as well be brother and sister.'



'All the soft feminine tones have been replaced by the build of an athlete.'

Another fighting point in their marriage was Madonna's devotion to the mystic religion Kabbalah.

Ritchie, 40, is said to have walked out of a marriage counselling meeting with rabbis after they suggested he should always be subordinate to his wife's wishes.



The source said: 'Guy thinks it is just mumbo jumbo. He was appalled she wanted the religion to intervene.'

He is said to have become disillusioned with the religion which he had originally embraced to please Madonna.

Film producer Ritchie is said to be resigned to the fact that Madonna will begin openly dating New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez.

Sources say the pop star is preparing to go public about her friendship with baseball player A-Rod when her world tour ends in December.



Kabbalah leaders are said to have given their blessing to the friendship after Rodriguez threw himself into the religion.

Exercise obsession: Ritchie is said to have compared Madonna's gym-toned body to 'a piece of gristle'

Madonna also recently sneaked the multi-millionaire into a front row seat at her gig which had previously been reserved for her husband.



An insider told the Sunday Mirror: 'Alex is bewitched by her. She is a very intoxicating woman and it seems she has offered him a pathway to happiness and enlightenment through Kabbalah.

'He thinks she is phenomenal, but his friends aren't sure they have much in common.'

Rodriguez's wife Cynthia filed for divorce in July this year, citing Madonna as one of his many infidelities.



She is said to have found a letter to Madonna in which Rodriguez' called her his 'soulmate'.



Madonna, worth around £300million, has agreed Ritchie will have full access to their sons, eight-year-old Rocco and adopted David Banda, three.



The singer also has a daughter Lourdes, 12, by fitness trainer Carlos Leon.

Ritchie's £10 million divorce settlement will see him own Ashcombe House, their 1,200 acre £10million estate in Wiltshire, while Madonna will keep the couple's £7million townhouse in Marylebone in central London.