Madonna has lost the custody battle for her 16-year-old son, Rocco.
The queen of pop and her former husband Guy Ritchie were due to appear in court this week, to resolve the feud that has been ongoing for the past nine months.
But it appears the former partners were able to reach a settlement hours before their expected appearance, with it decided Rocco will continue living with his film director father in London.
Guy’s lawyer, Peter Bronstein, told press outside court that Rocco’s “needs have changed,” and that he will remain with his dad.
In a veiled reference to the week’s events, Madonna took to Instagram to post images of her with “bitch” and “queen” written across them.
“Because sometimes soccer mums need to be a [bitch]” Madonna wrote on one post.
“And be treated like a [queen]” she wrote on the other.
But despite her apparent upset at losing the custody battle, Madonna and Rocco appear to have been patching things up of late, with the teen celebrating his sweet 16th with her, and on a recent trip to Africa.
The custody furore began in December 2015, when Rocco abandoned his mother’s Rebel Heart tour and flew to London to be with his father and wife Jacqui.
And despite a court order demanding the teen fly back to his mother’s home in New York, Rocco refused to return back to her.
At the High Court in London in March, Mr Justice MacDonald told the former couple they risked ruining what was left of their child’s childhood, if they did not resolve their differences.
Madonna and Guy were married for eight years between 2000 and 2008, with Rocco being their only child together.
Back in March, she told the crowd at her Auckland concert that she has “lost the battle,” adding: “There’s no love stronger than a mother has for her son.”