MADONNA - MADONNA SLAMS .UNFAIR. CRITICS

Superstar MADONNA believes she and her film director husband GUY RITCHIE have been singled out by the media for unfair criticism.

The MATERIAL GIRL - who releases her album AMERICAN LIFE later this month (APR03) - thinks people target her work with Guy, and in particular their 2002 film SWEPT AWAY, which was panned by the critics.

She says, "The way the critics have a go at anything me and Guy do together. Everyone in England has slagged it off without having seen it. Isn't that beautiful? Don't you think that's absurd?

"But the knives were going to come out for Guy anyway, even if he hadn't ended up with me. He had too much success with his first two films. That's how the media is - eventually they just pull you down."