OK! Magazine has the most interesting story up on their website. It’s called “Madonna Jealous of Daughter Lourdes?” and it’s kind of blowing my mind. I had always assumed that Madonna, though self-absorbed and devoted to her 4-hour patented gristle workouts, was a half-decent mother. At least, a mother who would cede the spotlight in a natural, maternal way as her children grew up.

Madonna in a mini-van is not what I expected, let me be clear. But would Madonna feel some pride, some wistful “I made that” joy at seeing her daughter blossoming into a young woman? According to OK!’s “sources”, not so much. OK! claims that Madonna feels like she’s now “in competition” with daughter Lourdes for men and attention.

Not only does Madonna have to worry about young pop stars crowding her spotlight, she also has to contend with competition from an unlikely source: her 12-year-old daughter, Lourdes Leon!

“I think Madonna can’t stand that Lourdes is growing into a beautiful teen,” a source tells OK! of the 50-year-old singer. “She seems envious of her youth and looks. She knows Lourdes is going to be gorgeous and will get the attention of the opposite sex. Knowing Madonna’s taste for younger guys, it’s a matter of course that they’ll be dating men the same age. It’s disturbing.”

Not surprisingly, the superstar is desperately trying to keep her daughter in a permanent state of girlhood. Last year, the beauty team on Madonna’s Sticky & Sweet Tour had strict orders not to touch Lourdes’s bushy eyebrows.

“That was a battle Madonna eventually gave in to,” the source says. “Lourdes recently had them shaped.”

Cracks in the once cozy mother-daughter relationship first started to show at a Gucci gala benefiting UNICEF and Malawi last Feb. “Madonna refused to let Lourdes have a hairdresser. She probably didn’t want her daughter to look better than her,” the source tells OK!.

From OK! Magazine

The only thing I’ve ever criticized little Lourdes on was the eyebrows – I feel strongly that with those kind of bushy-eyebrow genes, it’s never too young to start plucking, trust me. It seems so weird that the image-conscious Madonna wouldn’t want Lourdes looking her best, especially for a charity photo-op. But it makes sense when seen through the prism of Madonna’s still-fame-hungry ways. And those are the genes she passed on to Lourdes. Give it a few years, and the Lourdes-Madonna Battle Royale will be something to see.

Lourdes is shown outside the Kabbalah Centre on 1/31/09 and 1/30/09. She’s also shown with her mom on 7/25/08. Credit: WENN

Madonna’s eldest child Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon has begun school at a New York acting college, previously known for training Sarah Jessica Parker, Scarlett Johansson and Christian Slater.

‘Lourdes is desperate to become an actress and has joined Manhattan’s Professional Children’s School,’ says my source.

‘She is determined to prove herself and plans to throw herself into studying the technique.’

The young Kabbalahist was approached a year ago to appear in the movie The Secret Life Of Bees – but turned down the part because her mother didn’t want her getting into the business so young.

Daily Mail

Some people might think that Madonna is pushing her daughter into performing. I suspect that the move has more to do with the fact that Lourdes has just moved to a new city following her parents break up, and she could use a place to build confidence. As much as I believe Madonna to be a narcissistic bitch, I think her parenting skills are fine.

The school doesn’t actually specialize in educating children in the performing arts sector, as the Daily Mail is suggesting, but is focused on children who are already involved in such endeavors, including sports or other pursuits that require them to have a flexible learning timetable. This school has possibly been chosen for the children because of their need to travel to London to visit their father/stepfather and this allows some flexibility for that.

Of course, little Lola will probably follow her mother into entertainment – look at her style, she’s only 14 and already dressing for the spotlight. Some teenagers would dress down to avoid the attention, clearly Lourdes is not one of them.

Lourdes is shown outside the Kabbalah Center in NY on 8/1/08, 10/24/08, and 12/15/08. Credit: WENN. She is shown with her mom in the header on 8/1/08. Credit: Fame

Prior to the finalization of the divorce between Madonna and Guy Ritchie, the material girl reportedly began compiling a dossier of negative behaviors on her estranged husband that she had planned to use in court of things got messy. But according to reports, she backed off that strategy after overhearing a tearful phone call between daughter Lourdes, 12, and Guy. Apparently, Madonna is even considering allowing visitation rights for Lourdes and Guy, although he is not her biological father.

MADONNA ordered staff to compile a damning DOSSIER on Guy Ritchie’s “boozing and sexist behaviour” to get a low-key quickie divorce, we can reveal.

She told close friends: “I’m going to BURY him”. Then she handed pages of neatly typed “evidence” to lawyers.

The secret file, not released in court, was to support her grounds of Guy’s “unreasonable behaviour” and to get custody of the three kids.

But she eventually THAWED on that issue last week—after hearing tearful daughter Lourdes, 12, tell Guy on the phone how much she missed him.

A member of Madonna’s inner circle shattered the myth that the divorce case was always amicable—and revealed the lengths she went to to get her way.

Our source said: “Madonna had Guy over a barrel. She was determined to come out of this smelling of roses—and that she would not be the next Heather Mills by dragging it out in a very public way.

“Madonna was angry because she felt Guy had welshed on the deal that they would keep the happily married image going until the end of her current tour.

“So she became determined to paint him as a drunken, lewd sexist.”

Madonna, 50—angered by his lads’ nights out—roped in her workers to help. The source said: “She got staff to keep a record of every time he was out late or made an off-colour comment. It was bizarre as he’s not a heavy drinker or abusive. He doesn’t drink any more than the next man.

“But she was trying to show he’d be a bad influence on the kids, which is rubbish. Guy’s a devoted dad and the kids adore him.”

Madonna wanted Lourdes —her daughter from a previous relationship—and sons Rocco and David Banda to live in the US with her. Guy wanted the boys, aged eight and two, in England.

But we can reveal they agreed on equal access during three recent phone calls by Madonna to Guy.

In CALL No1, they talked about both wanting custody—and decided NOT to thrash it out in open courtto spare the kids more upset.

CALL No2 saw Madonna ring Guy after putting Rocco and David Banda on a plane from LA to London on November 11.

“She didn’t tell Guy that she was sending them over until they were in the air. Guy was over the moon.”

In CALL No3 they agreed to joint custody of all three children. “It came after Lourdes had spoken to Guy on the phone,” said the source.

“They were both in tears and told each other they loved and missed each other so much. No mother could fail to be moved by that.”

[From News of the World]

So far, no reports have come out about Lourdes spending any time with her ex-stepdad. But it wouldn’t surprise me if she did miss him- after all, he was a father figure in her life for eight years. That doesn’t just go away because her mother is no longer with him. Lourdes does have a very close relationship with her father, Carlos Leon, who has been helping her get through this tough time. As for this “dossier” Madonna was keeping, I can imagine her doing something like that to get what she wants – this is a woman who doesn’t like to compromise on anything. Luckily for the children, the contents of this document were left private.

Picture note by JayBird: Here’s Madonna arriving at the Kabbalah Center in New York on Friday. Images thanks to WENN.

Remember all those photos of Madonna palling around with fellow American-with-fake-Brit-accent Gwyneth Paltrow this summer? Well, they weren’t just bonding over their love of yoga and money. Apparently, Gwyneth was counseling her friend Madge to work on her marriage to Guy Ritchie instead of throwing in the towel.

Oscar-winning actress Gwyneth Paltrow spent the past few months desperately trying to convince her best friend Madonna not to separate from Guy Ritchie, MailOnline can reveal.

The 36-year-old believes Madonna and Guy, who announced the end of their nearly eight-year marriage today, should remain together for the sake of their three children.

Gwyneth is said to have advised her friend to think long and hard about the effects a divorce from the film director will have on Rocco, eight, adopted David Banda, two, and Lourdes, Madonna’s 12-year-old daughter from a previous relationship.

A source told MailOnline: ‘Gwyneth begged Madonna all summer not to be an idiot and let this marriage fall apart.’

Like Madonna, the Shakespeare In Love star is an American married to an Englishman, Coldplay’s Chris Martin, and alternates her time between her homes in London and New York.

Gwyneth is also said to have developed a soft spot for toddler David and would be devastated to lose regular contact with him as well as with her best friend.

The source said: ‘Gwyneth is in love with that little boy and sees him several times a week while she’s in London, and she has as much at stake as anyone in seeing his parents stay together.

‘She just doesn’t think it’s possible that Madonna and Guy would hurt their children by splitting up, and says she has actively advised both of them to put their problems and their egos aside for the sake of the children.

‘But Madonna can be very hard-headed and treats Gwyneth like a younger sister. If Madonna goes through with a divorce it’s going to break Gwyneth’s heart and affect their friendship permanently.’

[From The Daily Mail]

I don’t think I could ever advise anyone to stay together ‘for the sake of the kids.’ If it wasn’t working, the kids aren’t going to benefit from their parents sticking together and making everyone miserable. Anyway, it looks like all that begging and advising didn’t work. Like anyone could tell Madonna what to do in the first place. Something tells me Gwyneth will be there for Madonna no matter what.

In other Madonna divorce news, speculation is already starting about what will happen to the children she and Guy share. Sources are reporting that her oldest child, Lourdes, 12, wants to spend more time with her father, Carlos Leon, in NYC. Carlos is reportedly redecorating Madonna’s NYC apartment- possibly to prepare for Madonna’s return to the states. But where does that leave Rocco, 8, and David, 3? It’s still too soon to say for sure, but I can’t imagine that Madonna will want to separate her sons from their father at such a vulnerable time. Even someone as selfish as Madge would surely do what’s best for them…right?

Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna are pictured heading to the gym together in London in April 2008. Gwyneth is shown below looking scruffy out in London yesterday, 10/15/08. Photo credit: Bauergriffin.

Carlos Leon, father of Madonna’s oldest child Lourdes, says that his daughter has been reading in the tabloids about her mom’s marital problems with stepdad Guy Ritchie and the “affair of the heart” with NY Yankee Alex Rodriguez. The 11-year-old has been “traumatized” by the reports and Carlos has been spending a lot of time with her to see her though the ordeal.

Madonna’s daughter, Lourdes, has been left traumatized by the lurid tabloid claims about the pop star’s marriage to Guy Ritchie, according to the 11-year-old’s father Carlos Leon.

Recent reports have suggested Madonna is splitting from director Ritchie and having an affair with baseball star Alex Rodriguez.

The Material Girl has been in the headlines every day, and it’s having an adverse affect on Lourdes.

New York-based fitness trainer Leon has been spending extra time with his daughter, as Madonna prepares for her forthcoming world tour, and he is showering her with affection to compensate for her distress.

Leon tells People magazine, “She’s aware of it, and that’s difficult. I just give her more love. Her mother is there for her, Guy is there for her.”

And he insists there is no truth to the reports Madonna and Ritchie are splitting: “People have marital problems all the time.”

[From People via SFGate.com]

Whether the rumors are true or not- and I believe they are- this situation has to be tough on all the children, especially Lourdes. Especially when even her own uncle, Christopher, is jumping in on the Madonna-bashing bandwagon. It’s easy to hate on Madonna- but her kids don’t deserve to be sucked into the media whirlwind. As the oldest, she is probably more aware of what’s going on than her younger brothers, and she does seem very mature for her age. If mom and stepdad are having troubles, it’s certainly not going to be lost on her. It’s nice that she has a close relationship with her father so she gets the support she needs.

Picture Note by JayBird: Here’s Lourdes with her dad Carlos Leon in New York City on July 8th. Images thanks to Fame.