All Madonna wants for Christmas is her son, so she files court order for him to return home

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Madonna in court on Wednesday (December 23) after her teenage son refused to return to New York with her, opting instead to stay with his dad in London.
Madonna performing at a concert in Zurich earlier this month as part of her Rebel Heart Tour. PHOTO: EPA

All Madonna wants for Christmas is for her son, Rocco, to be back home for the coming holidays.

And the queen of pop was so determined to force the 15-year-old to return to New York that she obtained an order from a Manhattan Supreme Court judge on Wednesday (Dec 23).

Rocco, the only biological child of Madonna and British film director Guy Ritchie, has become the subject of a custody battle after he visited his father in London and allegedly refuse to leave.

His parents, who wed in December 2000, ended their marriage in September 2008. Before splitting, they had also adopted another son, 10-year-old David Banda, in 2006.

The New York Post reported that Ritchie's lawyer, Eric Buckley, had told the judge during Wednesday's hearing that Rocco "expressed very clearly that he does not want to return to New York".

Madonna, 57, was said to have appeared agitated at the statement and had to be calmed by her lawyer when she tried to respond.

The judge then asked: "Has he (Ritchie) prevented the child from returning to the US?"

"Effectively, yes," Buckley replied.

"I'm directing the child to be returned to New York. If he wants to stay with his father, he must return to his mother," the judge said, adding that Rocco will be granted his own court-appointed attorney in New York.

Both Madonna and Ritchie were also ordered not to discuss the legal proceedings with their son.

While it is unclear why Rocco prefers living with Ritchie to his mother, The New York Post cited two allegedly embarrassing Instagram posts made by Madonna about Rocco last year.

The first post, made in January, was a photo of Rocco during a boxing workout captioned with a slur. Madonna later deleted the post and apologised.

Madonna has two other daughters - biological daughter Lourdes, 19, with trainer Carlos Leon, and adopted daughter Mercy James, nine. Ritchie has two other sons and a daughter with model Jacqui Ainsley, whom he married in July this year.

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