Welp, it’s gonna be official! Madonna and Guy Ritchie will be granted a preliminary divorce decree at the High Court in London on Friday. After six weeks and a day, the divorce would be made final.

As to whether or not it was a messy divorce settlement, the various camps are disagreeing:

According to the British press, Madonna, 50, and Ritchie, 40, reached a settlement over money and their kids Lourdes, 12, Rocco, 8, and David, 3. London’s Evening Standard reports that Madonna will keep the bulk of her estimated $500 million fortune intact, though Ritchie was entitled by law to a share of it.

Additionally, Rocco and David will split time between the U.S. and London, while Lourdes, whose father is Carlos Leon, will live with her mother.

“[Madonna] walked away without any of his money, much to her credit,” a friend told the U.K.’s Times. “He has done the same.”

“He could have hugely boosted his bank balance and set himself up for life, but he already feels he has enough money,” another pal told the paper. “He also didn’t want the whole thing dragging on in the public gaze for months and months and, in any case, his priority was the children’s future.”

But a source close to the couple insists that’s not true. “He’s going to get a huge windfall, contrary to what’s being reported,” the source tells PEOPLE. “He’s getting a lot of money from the settlement. He’s not the gentleman he’s portraying himself as.”

My Lord, I can’t wait until Guy Ritchie writes a book — or, better yet, a screenplay! — about this insanity. He probably doesn’t need any of Madonna’s money because he’s going to make so much cash selling her out after this shit is over.

At a Gucci/UNICEF benefit dinner in NYC.

Also there: Blake Lively, Rihanna, Penn Badgley, Mary J. Blige, Timbaland and Adrian Grenier.

The Material Divorcee is reportedly being paid a whopping $10M to appear in the 2009 Louis Vuitton ads. The ads will be shot by Steven Meisel, who did Madge’s notorious 1992 book, Sex.

So they’re paying her $10M — and they’ll probably spend another $10M paying the airbrushers!

Madge better help move a lot of product!

Here are some of the early photos of Britney on stage with Madonna at her show in LA on Thursday night.

Um … is anyone a little worried by the fact that Britney looks like the grown-up on this stage? Honestly, like, this is what I feel like it would be like if Katy Perry’s minister mom did a guest appearance at one of her shows. Like, “Yes, dear, that’s an interesting outfit you have on there. Sure does look like you’re having fun! Ha ha. Oh, and is that … uh … a skull on your guitar strap? How very … creative, dear. My, this sure is neat, this whole thing where you stand on stage in your underwear on purpose. Don’t you think you might be getting a bit old for this, darling? No? Fine. Are you through embarrassing me now? Okay then. I’ll be off.”

NO WAY!!!

Ryan Seacrest — who tends to be reliable in such matters — is reporting that Britney Spears AND Justin Timberlake will appear on-stage with Madonna at her LA show on Thursday night.

DUDE!!!

It ALMOST makes me want to extend my LA trip and see if I can scalp tickets. But, honestly, I’m pretty damn sick of LA already. I’ve seen everyone I wanted to see, stirred up a fair amount of drama, and I’m ready to get out of this city and back to Seattle, where things feel sane. Plus, Leo misses his kitty siblings, and I miss them, too. So I think I’ll skip this little moment of music history, but I have full confidence that there will be plenty of photos and videos.

If you’re going to the show Thursday night, be sure to sneak in your camera!!!

It’s difficult to write today.  I think the Jennifer Hudson story is such a senseless tragedy.  But the Beet goes on… 

Being in a melancholy and somewhat depressed state of mind, I immediately thought of Madonna’s face.  And her appearance continues to be hellacious.  But hey…she’s been on tour, she’s going through a divorce, lives on a treadmill and she’s fifty.  She’s entitled to look haggard.  I am, however, frequently bemused by Madge’s staged and purpose-driven appearances.  Check out Lourdes wearing a Obama shirt.  When I was 12, I’m pretty sure I didn’t know where I stood on the Reagan/Mondale race but maybe I was just uneducated.  Being raised on rice milk and aduki beans probably would’ve ensured me more political awareness…fuck my mother and that damn food pyramid.  Also, her awkward attempt at maternal affection towards her adopted son David whilst conveniently positioned in camera’s view…I think she’s even smiling to the best of her ability.  I’m not sure if she’s trying to hug him or converse with him but either way little David wonders why his mother is paying attention to him all of a sudden.  I wonder if this photo-op has anything to do with her son’s biological father and his second thoughts?  I feel for Rocco; there was no message for him to billboard for Mommy on this outing to the Kabbalah Center in New York City yesterday.