New York Yankees batter Alex Rodriguez reacts after he hit a fly out with a runner on base against New York Mets in the ninth inning of their MLB interleague baseball game at Shea Stadium in New York June 29, 2008.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Madonna arrives on the red carpet at the 61st Cannes Film Festival May 21, 2008. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo)

Pop music star Madonna said in a statementon Sunday that she doesn't have an affair with Yankee slugger Alex Rodriguez and she is not planning to get divorced from her British husband Guy Ritchie.

"My husband and I are not planning on getting a divorce," the singer said in a statement to People.

"I brought my kids to a Yankee game. I am not romantically involved in any way with Alex Rodriguez. I have nothing to do with the state of his marriage or what spiritual path he may choose to study," she said.

Rumors that the London-based couple planned to split have been circulating for months, fueled most recently by reports that she had hired a lawyer to divorce film maker Ritchie.

Madonna, 49, and Ritchie, 39, married in December 2000 at Skibo Castle in northeast Scotland. They met at a party hosted by ex-Police frontman Sting and his wife Trudie Styler.

Madonna is one of the most successful rock stars of all time, with global album sales estimated at more than 200 million copies. A multi-Grammy award winner, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March.

Ritchie is best known for his movies "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" (1998) and "Snatch" (2000), but he has come in for critical maulings since then, most notably when he directed Madonna in "Swept Away" (2002).

(Agencies via Xinhua News Agency July 7,2008)