Madonna is the latest celebrity to come under fire from animal rights group PETA, who have criticised the singer for wearing what they believe to be a real chinchilla fur coat in London recently. Poorva Joshipura, director of PETA Europe, said: "We encourage anyone who wears fur to watch videos of these animals being electrocuted, caught in traps and skinned alive. Thousands of people, including Paris Hilton, have said that the videos changed their minds about wearing fur. Chinchillas are shy, intelligent animals who can live for up to 15 years in the wild. Yet on fur farms, these animals are violently killed while fully conscious."
A spokesman for the star - who, it's recently been announced, is to design a range of clothes for fashion chain H&M - said he was unable to comment.
Elsewhere in Madonna news, and recent rumours that all's not well with the singer's marriage to film director Guy Ritchie haven't really been quelled by the Daily Mirror's report that the pair engaged in a heated argument at an upmarket Italian restaurant in Mayfair recently. A fellow diner is quoted as saying: "The atmosphere between them was more than frosty. Guy was the one who was raising his voice most - you couldn't help but hear what he was saying. They were sitting in a corner booth and he was telling her that he'd had enough of her being controlling all the time and that something had to give."
This follows much speculation in the monde du gossip blog that the Madonna-Ritchie union is no longer blissful, and that the singer's recent adoption of Malawian baby David Panda was at least in part an attempt to save the marriage, but has only added to tensions between the couple.