Madonna and A-Rod: the plot thickens

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Madonna used kabbalah mind control techniques to lure US baseball star Alex Rodriguez away from his wife, it was claimed yesterday.

Pals of Rodriguez's wife, Cynthia, say the singer is brainwashing the sports ace into believing the pair are "soulmates".

They say Cynthia is blaming Madge for breaking up her five-year marriage to New York Yankees player Rodriguez, nicknamed 'A-Rod'.

And it was even claimed she found a note her husband wrote allegedly revealing his true feelings towards the Material Girl.

A source close to Cynthia said: "She said she found a letter where Alex told Madonna: 'You are my true soul mate.'"

"I believe he was having an affair with Madonna," she reportedly told a friend, who spoke to the New York Daily News anonymously for fear of angering A-Rod.

"I feel like Madonna is using mind control over him," Cynthia Rodriguez told the friend.

She is reported to have said: "I don't recognize the man he's become. He was a sweet, beautiful, loving husband and father. "Today he's very cold and calculating."

And the friend said Cynthia was blaming kabbalah - the Jewish mystical faith that Madonna practices - for the marriage troubles.

The friend went on: "This all started with kabbalah.

"Alex told Cynthia that he'd discovered that he'd been looking for his soul mate. And now, he said, he'd found her.

"Cynthia thought he just respected the woman.

"Cynthia told me, 'I respected her, too - her creativity and ability to reinvent herself. I grew up listening to Madonna songs. I never dreamed this 49-year-old woman was anything more than a friend.'"

It comes after heartbroken Cynthia, 34, fled the US for Paris where she was staying with family friend, rocker Lenny Kravitz.

A-Rod, 32, is said to have met Madonna at a gym. He is said to have made a string of late-night visits to the singer's New York apartment. Shortly afterwards, she was seen sitting in his VIP seats with her kids at a Yankees baseball game on June 22.

And the $28 million USD-a-year ace is also accused of visiting Madonna within hours of his wife giving birth to their second child in April.

Meanwhile, Us Weekly magazine quotes another insider saying Cynthia believes something is going on between her husband and Madonna.

The source told the publication: "She [Cynthia] doesn't believe they are just friends.

"Something deeply suspicious is happening.

"Cynthia did leave because she is sure this is all true."

Mother-of-three Madonna, 49, who is in New York to prepare for her world tour has denied rumours that her seven-year marriage to film director Guy Ritchie, 39, is over.

He jetted to the Big Apple earlier this week and they were seen holding hands as they left an Italian restaurant.

Her spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg, said the superstar and A-Rod were just friends - who shared the same manager.

And she said that Madonna and Guy had no plans to divorce.

Meanwhile Lenny Kravitz has denied reports HE is romantically involved with Cynthia Rodriguez.

Kravitz - himself linked to Madonna in the 1990s - said in a statement: "There is absolutely no affair between Cynthia Rodriguez and myself.

"This is unequivocally 100% not true. Cynthia is a friend and is here with the godfather of her baby, who is also Alex's trainer, his wife and their baby girl."

A spokesman for Cynthia Rodriguez refused to comment, saying only: "This is a private matter."