The life of Rocco Ritchie (Los Angeles, 21 years old) has been surrounded by many controversies since before his birth. Her parents, the superstar Madonna and the film director Guy Ritchie, lived until their divorce in the London neighborhood of Notting Hill, but the queen of pop did not quite like British clinics: “Come on, have you been to hospitals in England? They are old and Victorian ”, Madonna released in an interview with a radio in California shortly before giving birth in that state. The phrase served to unleash an important debate among public opinion in his host country in which even the minister of health intervened.
That anecdote was just the first in the long list of controversies that has surrounded Rocco. With more or less responsibility, the twentysomething gathers headlines. The last? This summer when she was featured as a model in
The Rake
magazine
.
The boy, who could pass for his father's double, has a bearing, jaw, and a little snail in his toupee reminiscent of James Dean. The aesthetics of the report, evoking the Hollywood actors of the 1940s and 1950s, would not have been a bad fit for Guy Ritchie films. The costumes of titles like
Snatch. Pigs and diamonds
(2000),
Sherlock Holmes
(2009) or
The Gentlemen: the lords of the mafia
(2019) seems to be another source of inspiration for both the images and Rocco's own style in his day-to-day life.
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The filmmaker's eldest son is going through a retro phase, although, as a good teenager, he previously explored other aesthetics while looking for his way in terms of style. He went through his
grunge
stage
,
with patterned shirts and a blonde hair a la Kurt Cobain, to shave in 2016 and throw himself into the arms of
streetwear.
At that time she made her debut as a model and starred in a couple of Adidas campaigns, to present the collections that Alexander Wang created for the sports brand. The designer recognized then that Rocco had boards: “Our brand celebrates youth culture and I believe that Rocco truly represents it. In addition, he has an incredible sense of style, "he declared in an interview with
iD
magazine
.
Rocco Ritchie at the Ascot horse races in 2018 Getty Agency
If you wanted to follow the fashion path, you have many close to whom you can ask for advice: your father is involved in the firm Cashmere Caveman and his mother, a friend of designers Donatella Versace or Riccardo Tisci, has been the image of Dolce & Gabbana, Versace and Miu Miu.
Her older sister by mother, Lourdes Leon, put a face to the collaboration between Jean-Paul Gaultier and Supreme has appeared in campaigns for Marc Jacobs, Miu Miu or Stella McCartney and, this month, on the cover of the September issue of the Vogue magazine.
Rocco Ritchie walking around London in 2017. He wears a coat that could easily have come out of the wardrobe of 'Sherlock Holmes' the movie his father directed. Getty Agency
With Lourdes, he shares four other siblings on his mother's side: David Banda (15 years old), Mercy James (15) and the twins Stelle and Estere (8), the four adopted in Malawi amid, again, numerous controversies. Following the divorce of Madonna and Guy Ritchie, the latter remarried model Jacqui Ainsley; For this part, Rocco has three more siblings: Rafael (9 years old), Rivka (8) and Levi (7).
Rocco currently lives in London with his father and studies art at the prestigious Central Saint Martins, a school from which creatives such as John Galliano, Alexander McQueen and Christopher Kane came out.
In his spare time, he rubs shoulders with other celebrity offspring such as Brooklyn Beckham, son of David and Victoria, and has been romantically involved with DJ Kim Turnbull and singer Chantelle Lee.
The stars have orbited him since the cradle.
His christening, which took place in Scotland the day before his parents' wedding, was attended by actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Debi Mazar, designer Stella McCartney or musician Sting, who was in charge of presenting Ritchie and Madonna at a dinner in 1998.
Madonna and Guy Ritchie, with Lourdes María and Rocco in 2004.REUTERS
Following his parents' separation in 2008, Rocco dedicated himself to following his mother on her world tours, catching up on his studies with a tutor. In 2009, he jumped on stage at a concert in Tel Aviv and made a few
break dance
steps
that he repeated on several subsequent tours. At the age of 12, she appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres program telling that her mother was severe: “She is a good mother, yes. It's very strict, but in a good way, "she said before Madonna's watchful eye. The diva wrote an essay in
Harper's Bazaar
magazine
in 2013 in which she mentioned her role as an educator: “Here I am, divorced and living in New York. I have been blessed with four fantastic children. I try to teach them to think for themselves. To be daring. To choose to do things because they are correct, not because it is what others are doing ”.
That rigor together with, say the gossip, the fact that Madonna lived too engrossed in her work, made Rocco in 2015 ask to go live in London with his father. That triggered a bloody legal battle, which was resolved after several months of litigation, with Rocco permanently moving to the capital. A few months later, at the age of 16, he was arrested for possession of marijuana and spent several months working as a delivery man. At that time the anger with his mother was so loud that in 2016 he blocked her on Instagram and ended up deleting the account on the social network to which, five years later, he has not yet returned. Where he has returned is to Madonna's lap. The singer has been visiting him frequently in London for a long time and he does not hesitate to answer her call. The last was on August 16, when the interpreter of
Vogue,
her six children and her boyfriend, the 27-year-old dancer Ahlamalik Williams, gathered in Puglia to celebrate the diva's 63rd birthday.
Happy family, after all.
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