Madonna has purchased a New York apartment using her maiden name – sparking further fears her marriage to Guy Ritchie is in trouble.

The Holiday hitmaker bought the flat directly above her existing home near Central Park for $7 million using her maiden name, Ciccone. It is believed the 49-year-old will knock through the building to make a “super duplex” apartment.

The couple’s marriage came under intense scrutiny last month when the director failed to show up at New York’s Rock + Roll Hall Of Fame induction ceremony, where his wife was honored.

This was the latest of several events the couple had failed to attend together, prompting scurrilous reports they’d split.

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WENN

Madonna has defended her decision to adopt a child from outside the U.S. or Britain – insisting her Malawian son David Banda faced death if she hadn’t taken custody of him.

The singer has been accused of encouraging people to travel abroad to adopt, at the expense of needy children closer to home. British child psychologist Professor Ken Browne recently made headlines by dubbing the phenomenon the “Madonna effect”.

But Madonna has dismissed Professor Brown as “grumpy” and insists orphans in AIDS-stricken Africa are more needy.

She tells New York magazine, “That’s a grumpy person. You know, there isn’t an AIDS crisis in England. Yes, there are children that need to be adopted here (in America) and in the U.K., but no one’s going to die in an orphanage in America.”

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WENN

Let the great eyebrow debate continue.  (Go here if you missed part one)

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Madonna has defended superstar pal Tom Cruise against criticism of his Scientology faith, insisting he is a “good person” and should be allowed to worship whatever he likes.

The singer, a follower of Jewish offshoot the Kabbalah, claims it is nobody’s business what religion people choose to follow.

She tells New York magazine, “I don’t care if people worship turtles or frogs – if they’re good people, that’s all I care about, and he (Cruise) is a good person. I think he gets a raw deal, just as I think the orphans in Malawi get a raw deal; just as I think a lot of marginalized people get a raw deal.”

11 year old Lourdes is the spitting image of her famous mother. I know you guys are all sick of seeing pictures of Madonna leaving her gym…so here’s Lourdes!

I think she’s beautiful!

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Madonna, Canadian singer Celine Dion and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall are reportedly all descended from the same French carpenter.

A family history archive scanned Canadian records dating back more than 300 years from 1621 and announced that all three women are linked by the same ancestor.

Camilla, the second wife of British royal Prince Charles, Madonna and Dion are all descended from Frenchman Zacharie Cloutier, according to ancestry.co.uk.

The website’s spokesman Simon Harper says, “The fact that Camilla and Madonna are related, however distantly, highlights the truly unpredictable and entertaining nature of family history research.”

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WENN