This Material Girl wants her boy home. Amid the heated, ongoing custody battle between Madonna and Guy Ritchie, a source close to the pop superstar tells Us Weekly that she is exploring all options to get her 15-year-old son, Rocco Ritchie, back in school in NYC.
“Madonna has been actively doing all she can to get her son Rocco Ritchie home and back to school in New York,” the source tells Us. A U.S. court judge has ruled that both Guy and Rocco must return to the U.S. in order to discuss future custody arrangements.
The insider close to the situation further alleges that Ritchie is “interfering” with Rocco’s education. The teen currently attends high school in NYC.
“Rocco, along with Madonna’s other three children, have never been away from her for any extended period of time until daughter Lourdes went away to college last year,” the source continues. “Madonna, who lost her own mother at a very young age, has always made her children’s education a priority along with their well-being.”
The situation intensified shortly before the holidays, when Rocco refused to come home to the U.S. after staying with his dad in London. A judge ordered the teen to return to NYC on December 23, but Ritchie’s attorney then got involved and said at the time that “Rocco has expressed very clearly” that he didn’t want to return to his mom.
According to the insider, this is the longest Rocco has ever been away from Madonna since she and Ritchie divorced after eight years of marriage in November 2008. “The only time the children have not been with Madonna was when her sons Rocco and David visit Ritchie in the U.K. as part of a custody order mutually agreed to eight years ago,” the source tells Us.
Madonna is also mom of a 19-year-old daughter, Lourdes Leon, and her youngest child, Mercy, 9.
Us Weekly reached out to Ritchie’s rep for comment. Madonna’s rep declined to comment.