Guy Ritchie 'Made Money' From Drama-Packed Madonna Marriage

Though a very successful artist in his own right, "Snatch," "Sherlock Holmes" and "Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels" director Guy Ritchie was always the lower-key half of his marriage to Madonna.

These days, he's about three years removed from his 2008 divorce from the Material Mom after eight years or marriage. That far after the fact, he now tells Details that certain benefts balanced out the sometimes tense marriage's drawbacks.

"I stepped into a soap opera, and I lived in it for quite a long period of my life," he said. "I'll probably be more eloquent on it 10 years from now. The experience was ultimately very positive. I love the kids that came out of it (the pair had one son together, 11-year-old Rocco, and I could see no other route to take. But you move on, don't you?"

Move on, he has. The two are in a good place as friends, Ritchie said. It sounds like a refreshing change for him. He suggests that wasn't always so. Madonna cited "unreasonable behavior" in the 2008 divorce filing, but sources have since said that adoption was an issue between the two. How it wasn't an issue could definitely be clearer: the pair did adopt a Malawian boy named David during their marriage. Ritchie has since had a child with current girlfriend Jacqui Ainsley, a boy born in September.

Ritche was also arrested in May of 2000 for assaulting a 20-year-old man outside the pair's Kensington home.

As he suggests, he did indeed make out somewhat like a bandit: in the divorce that split the value of the pair's assets, Ritchie received between 50-60 million pounds that includes the value of the shared pub and home once owned jointly by the couple.

"When you end up with a lotof things you set out to chase and find that you've stumbled into all sorts of hollow victories, then you become deeply philosophical," he said. "I'm quite happy that that experience was accelerated for me. I'm glad I made money, in other words. And I'm glad I got married."

And more glad to be a dad.

"I'm f-cking glad no one gave me too much advice," he said. "You've got to work it out for yourself. What works for me might not work for anyone else. And I'm anti people putting so much pressure on kids and robbing their childhood by giving them so much homework. I think if kids want to arse around, then they should."