MIAMI - Alex Rodriguez's heartbroken wife Cynthia believes her hubby has been "brainwashed" by kabbalah-pushing pop icon Madonna and lured away from his family, an A-Rod confidant said.
In a bombshell interview with The Post, Dodd Romero — Rodriguez's former trainer and godfather to his two daughters who spent last week in Paris with Cynthia Rodriguez — said he and C-Rod believe the Yankee superstar has been gradually drawn away by Madonna's allure.
"Alex, God bless him, is lost," A-Rod's ex-pal lamented. "I think he got pulled in by the dark side, if you can say that nicely. He's totally brainwashed."
"She believes it's what ruined her marriage," Romero added.
A-Rod's first encounters with the Material Mom came through their common friend, Miami nightclub owner Ingrid Casares, Romero said.
Once Madonna and A-Rod started working out together in New York in November 2007, he was under the complete spell of kabbalah's most famous practitioner, the slugger's confidant said.
"He's more infatuated with the fact he's with an icon instead of realizing what's important, which is family and truth," said Romero, 46.
"Alex [is acting like] he wants a divorce."
The trainer said he severed ties with A-Rod shortly after Cynthia gave birth to their second child this spring.
Sources said Alex arrived in Miami just in time for the birth of Ella on April 21.
He spent as little as 10 minutes with mother and child, then bolted back to New York and straight to Madonna's Central Park West pad, where he has allegedly spent a number of late nights.
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Since then, A-Rod has seen his little daughter only a couple of times, said Romero.
Cutting off his relationship with A-Rod "was one of the hardest things I've had to do, because he's like a brother to me," Romero said.
He said A-Rod is going through a kabbalah practice called "cleaning out your vessel," which means getting out the old and taking in the new.
"To me that's a way of saying leave your family and move on," Romero said.
After hooking up with Madonna, A-Rod was soon frequenting Manhattan's Kabbalah Centre — where he's been spotted recently — in an all-white uniform, the sect's symbol of purity.
The temple on East 48th Street near Lexington Avenue is the same center that Madonna and her family visited yesterday.
"I've seen him walking out of it," said doorman Andrew Rodriguez (no relation to A-Rod), who works at a building next door to the center.
And even when A-Rod wasn't with Madonna, she was there in spirit, according to Romero.
"He'd be in the gym and if a Madonna video would come on, he'd go into a trance," Romero said.
And when A-Rod is driving in his car, he'll only listen to Madonna music, the trainer said.
The third baseman's flirtation with Madonna and her faith led her to introduce him to fellow kabbalah practitioner Guy Oseary — manager of Madonna and other music stars — at a Los Angeles kabbalah center.
Rodriguez and Oseary became fast friends, and Oseary's influence over A-Rod led the Yankee to a highly publicized breakup with agent Scott Boras, baseball's most powerful player representative, according to a source with knowledge of the split.
After last season, A-Rod, under Boras' guidance, opted out of his Yankees deal to seek an even bigger contract in the free-agent market.
That move touched off a PR backlash, and A-Rod, at the urging of his kabbalah pals, dumped Boras and cut his own deal to return to the Yankees.
He then quickly hired Oseary, becoming the only athlete in the rock manager's stable of A-list entertainers.
A high-ranking kabbalah source said Madonna, A-Rod and Oseary have shared Friday night Sabbath dinners together.
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Rodriguez has also visited kabbalah centers in south Florida, where the all-star and the singer both have posh homes, sources said.
The disillusioned A-Rod was ripe to look for new answers after what should have been a celebrated 2007 campaign.
He smashed 54 home runs, but the season ended in personal and team frustration. The Yankees lost to the Cleveland Indians in the first round of the playoffs, while A-Rod was dogged by rumors of infidelity.
The slugger had been spotted gallivanting around Toronto earlier that summer with a buxom blond stripper.
As A-Rod got deeper into his newfound faith, he spent more time socializing with Madonna and Oseary — all while growing apart from pregnant Cynthia, who was carrying their second child, sources said.
The buff Bomber was photographed wearing his wedding ring as recently as a few months ago, but was not wearing it last week.
As news of A-Rod's and Madonna's rendezvous broke last week, Cynthia left Miami with Romero and his family for Paris to be by the side of a family friend, rock star Lenny Kravitz. She was photographed strolling the streets there sans wedding band.
And snapshots from the vacation show her and pals visiting the Eiffel Tower and goofing around in a park.
Still, Romero says the baseball wife is devastated by Rodriguez's alleged marital infidelity.
"She's taking it pretty hard," said Ray Romero, Dodd's dad.
"She went there to clear her mind and get away. She feels bad about it."
A-Rod has consistently refused to answer questions about his relationship with Madonna, pleading with reporters to talk only baseball with him.
Romero, his family and C-Rod attended two of Kravitz's concerts last week.
The rocker insists he and Cynthia are no more than friends who hadn't seen each other in two years before last week.
Romero, who also trains Kravitz, said the rocker text-messaged A-Rod yesterday, asking him: "Clear my name, brother. What is this all about?"
Yesterday, C-Rod, sporting black spandex and a pink tank top emblazoned with a heart, was spotted pumping iron at a Florida gym, where she broke a sweat to a collection of Kravitz's greatest hits, including "Are You Gonna Go My Way?" and "Fly Away."
Cynthia has blamed Madonna for getting her husband hooked on the study of the ancient Jewish Zohar scripts, which followers claim have all the answers to the universe.
Kabbalah's 3 million worldwide followers believe that none of people's bad traits are a result of their parents.
Traditionalists, however, have slammed the "religion," arguing it's more of a cult, selling $3 bottles of spiritual water claimed to have miracle healing powers.
C-Rod's suspicions about her hubby and Madonna coincided with published reports that the singer had hired one of London's most famous family-law attorneys, forecasting a pending divorce from British filmmaker and husband No. 3 Guy Ritchie.
An A-Rod spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.
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