Madonna famously said she would not wish being 'Mrs Madonna' on anybody.
And her second husband filmmaker Guy Ritchie appeared to show the scars of their stormy union during his blunt five-word review of their failed marriage some years after it imploded.
The Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels director met the American pop icon in 1999, when they were introduced by mutual friends Sting and his wife Trudie Styler.
Madge and Guy soon began dating, and following a whirlwind romance, in August 2000, they announced the arrival of their first child together, Rocco Ritchie.
Just a few months later, they wed in a star-studded ceremony at Skibo Castle in Scotland, with Gywneth Paltrow serving as maid of honour, and Stella McCartney designing the singer’s £170,000 wedding dress.
Six years later, the loved-up couple adopted David Banda from an orphanage in Malawi, but the cracks in their marriage began to show, and just two years later they split, with Madonna citing Guy’s “unreasonable behaviour” in divorce papers.
The couple kept tight-lipped over their relationship while together, and continued their stoic stance during the breakdown of their marriage, but British director Guy gave a rare but revealing insight into their union some years later.
Guy told Details magazine that while he didn't regret marrying Madonna her time with the pop princess had been a bit of a circus.
"It was a soap opera," he told the publication.
“I lived in it for quite a long period of my life,” the filmmaker added. ""I love the kids that came out of it, and I could see no other route to take. But you move on, don't you?"
When asked on what he had learned from his union with Madonna, he mused: “When you end up with a lot of the things you set out to chase and find that you've stumbled into all sorts of hollow victories, then you become deeply philosophical.
“I'm quite happy that that experience was accelerated for me. I'm glad I made money, in other words. And I'm glad I got married,” Guy added.
The Sherlock Holmes director found love with model Jacqui Ainsley in 2010, and the couple wed in front of guests including Brad Pitt, David Beckham, Jason Statham and Henry Cavill at their country estate in 2015.
Madonna has rarely spoken about her private life in interviews, but in an interview in 2012, she said she knew their marriage was over when she noticed “cracks in the veneer”.
“Time goes by, and you share a life, you have children, and there are cracks in the veneer,” she told Newsweek magazine.
“It’s not as romantic as it used to be. You think, ‘This isn’t what I thought it was going to be,’ and ‘How much am I willing to sacrifice?’”
