Thicker than water. Madonna said in a statement on Wednesday, November 23, that she plans to stand by her 16-year-old son Rocco after he was arrested for possession of marijuana in London earlier this year.
“I love my son very much,” the pop icon told The Associated Press Wednesday, calling the September arrest a “family matter.” “I will do whatever I can to give him the support that he needs, and I ask that you respect our privacy at this time.”
According to the UK’s The Sun, the troubled teen was detained during a stop-and-search by officers from the Camden police department on September 28. He was taken to a north London police station, where he was subsequently bailed out and taken to Camden’s Youth Offending Team, which strives to use engagement and education to deter young people from second offenses.
Madonna, 58, has had a tumultuous relationship with her eldest son this past year while trying to work out a custody agreement with his father, her ex-husband Guy Ritchie.
Mother and son seemed to have mended their relationship as recently as mid-September, however, with the “Living for Love” singer visiting London to help Rocco settle into school while Ritchie, 48, was abroad in Los Angeles.
“She’s meeting with his school and watching over him to be the parent while his dad is away,” a source told Us of the arrangement. (The former couple’s agreement allows Rocco to remain in London, where the English filmmaker currently resides with his second wife, Jacqui Ainsley, and their three young children.)
A few days after returning to the States, Madonna shared a throwback black-and-white image to her Instagram with a touching caption: “Still my Sweet Boy 💙,” she wrote at the time.
Madonna and Ritchie, her second husband, tied the knot in December 2000 before pulling the plug on their marriage in 2012, and also share son David, 11. The singer is also mom to Lourdes, 20, from a previous relationship, and Mercy, 10. (Both David and Mercy were adopted from Malawi.)
