(showbizspy.com) - Madonna and her movie-making husband Guy Ritchie separated in 2003, according to a new report.
The split -- which is said to have only lasted a "short time" -- was a bombshell that British author Wendy Leigh left out of Life With My Sister Madonna -- the bestselling book she wrote with the pop superstar's estranged brother Christopher Ciccone.
Fox News' Roger Friedman writes, "Wendy, you see, took umbrage at an item that appeared [on the Fox News website] a few days ago about sales of Life with My Sister. She pointed out that the book had sold more than the 35,000 copies Nielsen Bookscan had counted and, in fact, still was on the bestseller list after less than a month.
"While we talked over breakfast on Thursday at a downtown hotel, Wendy told me the whole saga of how she and Madonna's brother had come to be partnered on the book, and then she dropped this bombshell.
"Madonna, she told me, had written many letters and e-mails to Christopher over the years. The latest was in 2003."
Friedman quotes her as saying, "She detailed her marriage to Guy in a way that a woman usually doesn't discuss her husband with her brother.
"It showed a side of her that made her very human. But think that this was so soon in the marriage. She was having grave doubts. But so was he. The separation was initiated by him."
The letters are only briefly mentioned in the book, Wendy said, because it's illegal to quote from them. Even paraphrasing is tricky. But the gist of it is that Christopher was Madonna's confidant as recently as 2003.
According to Leigh, the separation came in February 2003 -- less than three years into the marriage and birth of their son, Rocco. The couple also went for "counseling."
"Madonna had serious reservations about the marriage and about Guy and expressed them to Christopher in the letter," Leigh adds. "There were details about Guy's past and Madonna's insecurities. The letter took my breath away. It showed me how bright she was and the woman behind the Madonna-constructed image."