Madonna's misery continues today as details of her brother's tell-all book emerge.

Christopher Ciccone claims that the singer - who has been rocked by divorce rumours as well as allegations that she is behind the marriage break-up of baseball player Alex Rodriguez - loves her career and herself more than husband Guy Ritchie.

The claims come amid widespread speculation that Madonna's marriage is breaking down and the allegations have angered the volatile pop star, sparking a huge family row.

In turmoil: Divorce rumours and allegations of an intimate relationship with Alex Rodriguez looked to be taking their toll as the singer left her apartment yesterday

A spokeswoman said last night that Madonna was 'upset' by the book, in which Ciccone, a gay decorator and chef, depicts his sister as manipulative and self-obsessed.

'I hope that it is Kabbalah's lesson that she is not the centre of the universe,' Ciccone wrote in one of a number of barbed comments in Life With My Sister Madonna, which is due for release on Tuesday.

Yesterday the pop star emerged from her New York apartment looking tired and despondent in a sign the pressure of the past month is beginning to take its toll.

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Tell-all book: Madonna pictured with Christopher in 1998, she is said to be 'upset' by the claims in his upcoming memoir

Her husband Guy Ritchie was seen leaving the Central Park West residence separately, accompanied by the couple's seven-year-old son Rocco.

The 49-year-old has been linked to the £50million marriage break-up of Rodriguez, the world's most expensive baseball player, and his wife Cynthia. 

Reports claim that Rodriguez, 32  -  in the first season of a £139million, 10-year contract with the New York Yankees  -  made a series of visits to Madonna's New York flat, and that he converted to Kabbalah, the mystical Jewish movement followed by Madonna. Cynthia, 34, filed for divorce earlier on Monday.

Madonna issued a statement Sunday saying that she has 'nothing to do with the state of his marriage or what spiritual path he may choose to study,'  referring to reports that the she had introduced the sports star to Kabbalah.

The scandal comes just weeks after reports that Madonna and Guy marriage was on the rocks.

However the singer's estranged brother appears to defend their marriage in the 342-page book, published by Simon Spotlight Entertainment.

Ciccone says that he believes the couple are "passionately committed" to staying married, with the help of Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism.

He describes Ritchie as a man's man undisturbed by homophobic humour, whose emergence in Madonna's life marks 'the death knell' of the Ciccones' brother-sister bond.

Ciccone portrays Madonna as a show business survivor - bossy and self-absorbed, sometimes compassionate, mindful of 'how little faith many people once had in her'.

Ex files: Alex Rodriguez with wife Cynthia, whose divorce lawyers have criticised his association with Madonna

His memoir includes revelations about Madonna's sex life.

It says she lost her virginity to a 'guy named Russell', says ex-husband Sean Penn was referred to by Madonna as a 'paranoid control freak' and that Warren Beatty, another of Madonna's lovers, allegedly cornered Ciccone at a party and quizzed him intensely on what it was like to be gay.

The book offers snapshots of Bruce Willis allegedly chatting up other women while still married to Demi Moore, of Ciccone dancing with Moore at a drag queen club, of Madonna allegedly kissing Gwyneth Paltrow on the mouth during a New Year's Eve dance at which Ciccone said that he and Ritchie almost came to blows.

Ciccone, 47, worked often with his older sister, designing and directing her Girlie Show tour in 1993 and serving as artistic director of her 1991 documentary, Madonna: Truth or Dare.

But in his book, he says they are no longer close.

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Cashing in: Christopher Ciccone's book - which couldn't come at a worse time for his sister - is due for release next week

Madonna's representative, Liz Rosenberg, said last night that the singer had not read the memoir but found it 'very upsetting' that Ciccone 'has decided to sell a book based on his sister.

'I would have to assume she has come to terms with the fact that they do not have a close and loving relationship,' Miss Rosenberg said.

'And with the book coming out, I assume that will remove the chances of that ever happening.'

Life With My Sister Madonna was co-authored by celebrity biographer Wendy Leigh, who has written books on Liza Minnelli, Grace Kelly and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Simon Spotlight, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, has announced a first printing of 350,000.

Earlier this year, stores were asked to order the book "blind," without knowing the author or subject. Last month, the publisher released the subject matter - and the name of the author.

In 2006, William Morrow offered a mysterious tell-all that turned out to be by Princess Diana's former butler, Paul Burrell, who had already written about her. Retailers were angered and the book sold poorly.