Madonna's marriage on the mend?

Retna

Forget that "Papa Don't Preach" stuff--what papa really shouldn't be doing is spilling family secrets to the tabloids.

John Ritchie, dad to Guy and father-in-law to Madonna, says in an interview with the British magazine Closer published Tuesday that the super-couple's relationship has been on the rocks and they are working to salvage their marriage.

The elder Richie, 76, says his son's family relocated to Los Angeles in February in a last-ditch effort to stay together.

"L.A. seems to have helped them," the retired director told the magazine. "It's easier for them out there because there is less pressure. They seem to have left the bumps they were having over here behind them.

"You can never know that things will work, but they do seem to be fitting into each other more."

Per Papa Richie, his son and daughter-in-law needed to get out of London and away from the tabloids, which had lasered in on supposed troubles in the six-year-old marriage, thus making things even worse.

In February, for instance, the British media played up the Material Girl's failure to mention her director-husband in an acceptance speech at the Brit Awards. The press suggested her cozy working relationship with her music producer, Stuart Price, might be the source of marital woe.

Tabloids have also reported that Guy Richie's stint at house-husbanding has been a source of friction, especially since Madonna's latest project, the chart-topping Confessions on a Dancefloor, was a worldwide success, while Richie's latest project, the roundly panned film Revolver, tanked.

"Guy's career is not going well," John Richie said. "His last two films have flopped, so it's a pressure. But he still believes he has it in him. He has two more movies in mind to write and he's hoping to get them done in L.A.

"It doesn't bother him that Madonna is so successful, but obviously he wants to be successful himself."

The move, however, seems to be working, per the intelligence provided by John Richie.

"They have put everything behind them," he said. "They're able to go home at night and be together.

The elder Ritchie says that his son, 37, and Madonna, 47, are spending more time together as a family with their two children, Lourdes, nine, and Rocco, five.

"They both want to see the children," he continued. "For Guy and Madonna, their relationship is all about the children now. The kids are really important and the focal point of their relationship...It's the children that will keep them together. The children are everything to them."

Whatever the problems, the couple doesn't have much more time to try and resolve them. Madonna kicks off the U.S. leg of her Confessions tour in Los Angeles May 21.

"I hope that they still love each other," John Richie said. "But to be honest, I just don't know that they do."