Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s custody battle over Rocco went international. In 2016, Madonna filed a suit that claimed the 15-year-old had been living with her since the divorce but left her Rebel Tour to live with Ritchie in London, per The Guardian. Madonna had previously filed at a New York court and the judge ordered Rocco to return to his mom but he failed to do so. The U.K. judge allowed Madonna to drop the proceedings in England and continue the process in New York but warned the parents, “As I observed during the course of the hearing, summer does not last forever. The boy very quickly becomes the man. It would be a very great tragedy for Rocco if any more of the precious and fast receding days of his childhood were to be taken up by this dispute,” per People.
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While the proceedings took place, a New York judge and both parties agreed that Rocco would stay in London to remain in school. “No one is disrupting this household. The child is in school; let us try to allow him to go forward in the most normal way. We’re not forcing the child to leave school. His mother isn’t asking that,” Judge Deborah Kaplan stated (via People). Madonna and Ritchie were set to appear in court a few months later, but the two were eventually able to settle out of court.
