The custody battle between Madonna and Guy Ritchie is heating up, with the British film director preparing for a courtroom showdown by hiring a lawyer to mount a legal case.

The ex-couple, who divorced in 2008, have reportedly hardened their positions regarding their 15 and a half year old son Rocco, according to TMZ. Sources close to Ritchie told the outlet that Rocco wants to live with his dad in London, as it is more “stable and loving” that living with Madonna, who is “too controlling”.

Guy RitchieGuy Ritchie is preparing for a legal fight with Madonna

This ongoing story broke just before Christmas, with the announcement that Rocco had refused to fly home to New York to spend the holidays with his mother. Although the 57 year old star won a hastily arranged court battle, the boy still refused to comply with the order, but he’ll be back in New York for a custody hearing set by the judge for February.

Apparently, it’s no longer the case that Rocco doesn’t want to go on tour with his mother (like he did for two months last autumn as part of her Rebel Heart shows), it’s that he doesn’t want to live with her at all.

More: Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s custody battle over Rocco spills over onto Instagram

As the same publication reported in the last few days, Madonna’s sources refute this and allege that 47 year old Ritchie has been trashing her to Rocco and influencing him. Rocco has also reportedly blocked his mother on Instagram, according to news that emerged on Sunday (January 3rd).

“It’s not a great sign that Rocco is blocking his mum on social media, especially after all the rumours that she was embarrassing him with her posts about him,” a source told The Sun. “It’s even more of a blow because he allows Jacqui and Guy to still follow him and he follows them back. Hopefully this is just a teenage teething problem.”

Seemingly in response to the situation, Madonna posted a cryptic black-and-white quotation from the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. “One way of measuring the strength of an attacker is by looking at the sort of opponents he needs,” the (slightly unsettling) sentence read.

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