Madonna, Guy Ritchie battle for custody of son Rocco
Mama, don't preach. Madonna's son, 15-year-old Rocco Ritchie, is tired of living with his mom.
The teenager, whose parents are Madonna and director Guy Ritchie, says he doesn't want to live with the pop star in the U.S. anymore, and prefers to live with his dad in London.
But a judge is ordering Rocco to return to New York to deal with the proceedings in court, and he needs to return before school starts again after the holiday break, reports the Daily News.
"He has expressed very clearly that he does not want to return to New York," Rocco's lawyer Eric Buckley said.
But Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Deborah Kaplan said if Rocco wants to live in London, he needs to come back to New York first to make it official.
"I'm directing the child to be returned to New York. If he wants to stay with his father, he must return to his mother," Kaplan told Madonna, who appeared in court for a hearing.
The Wednesday hearing was set after Rocco began legal proceedings in London, where his lawyer is holding his passport for safekeeping. A source told the Daily News that the British court decided that the case should be handled in New York, because of the custody agreement that was decided there.
Rocco will get his own court-appointed attorney when he returns to New York.
"The parties should be doing this in New York instead of initiating it in England," said Kaplan.
Rocco is one of four of Madonna's children; he has one younger brother from his parents' marriage and two half-sisters.
Madonna and Ritchie divorced in 2008. Ritchie remarried this year, to model Jacqui Ainsley. He and Ainsley have three young children in addition to Rocco and his brother, David Banda.
