(Getty Images)
Madonna’s son Rocco was ordered to return to her in New York on Wednesday, despite his desire to live in London with his father, Guy Ritchie.
Madonna appeared in a New York City court room to request legal intervention in a custody battle with Ritchie. Rocco, 15, has recently been staying abroad with his father, and wants to live there long-term. At the hearing, Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Deborah Kaplan asked if the teen had been “prevented” from coming back to the U.S., and an attorney for Ritchie admitted that the director had “effectively” been keeping his son in the U.K.
“He has expressed very clearly that he does not want to return to New York,” Ritchie’s attorney argued. But while the judge said it would be fine for Rocco to change his primary living arrangement in the future, he would first have to return to the U.S. to begin that process. Judge Kaplan told Madonna, “I’m granting you all the relief you have requested. I’m directing the child to be returned to New York. If he wants to stay with his father, he [first] must return to his mother.”
Rocco will get his own court-appointed lawyer to aid him through the potential custody change, and both parents were ordered not to discuss the case with him. Madonna declined to comment as she left the court house, and never before publicly acknowledged there was any kind of dispute. She and Ritchie, who also co-parent 10-year-old son David, divorced in 2008.
Madonna, who is currently in the midst of her “Rebel Heart Tour,” is also mom to daughters Mercy and Lourdes. Ritchie has three other children with current wife Jacqui Ainsley. Madonna and Rocco are pictured above in 2013. Gossip Cop will have updates.
