Madonna will 'keep marriage going'

Madonna's brother has claimed that the Queen of Pop will fight to save her marriage to Guy Ritchie.

Christopher Ciccone commented on the pair's relationship as he made an appearance on US TV show Good Morning America to promote his new tell-all book, titled Life With My Sister Madonna.

Ciccone told the ABC programme that he does not believe Madonna is secretly planning to divorce Ritchie at the end of this year, despite recent press speculation.

"I believe that she will do what's best for her family and her kids, and I think that she'll do her best to maintain the marriage and keep it going," he explained. "She's not the type of person just to walk away."

He also said that claims Madonna had an affair with US baseball star Alex Rodriguez, who is splitting from his wife Cynthia, seemed "absurd".

"First of all, despite everything else, she's still a Catholic girl and I don't think… although he is kind of her type, so it's difficult to say," Ciccone said. "I know Alex from Miami - we've met a number of times - I doubt this is actually an affair. I'm sure she had nothing to do with the break-up of their marriage."

Madonna recently insisted that she has no plans to divorce Ritchie and denied any romantic involvement with Rodriguez.