If you remember many months ago their was a rumor that Madonna and Guy Ritchie are divorcing well more news has come to light and it is all true.

A close pal of the couple told the Daily Mirror newspaper that a split was virtually inevitable.

The friend said: 'They're obviously sad but they're dealing with it like grown-ups. Things have just run their natural course.'

The paper reports that the couple will formally announce the split when Madonna's world tour ends on November 29.

'They have just grown apart. They've decided they're better off as friends. It's sad but they're determined to keep it amicable.'

Guy was pictured a fortnight ago on a night out with male friends and sources said he and his wife were planning to spend most of the summer apart.

The couple got together after they met at a party thrown by the singer Sting in 1998. They married in a castle in Scotland two years later.

Rather than hide their marital problems, Madonna told a documentary for MTV in 2005 that she 'wanted to end everything'.

'My husband didn't turn out to be everything I imagined him to be', the star said.

Problems first surfaced when Ritchie disagreed with the decision to adopt baby David Banda from Malawi.

And relations clearly didn't improve, with the singer recently telling an interview: 'Guy can be intolerant of my behaviour.

'But he has certain personality traits which need to change as well.'