Madonna thanks exes for support

VENICE, Italy - Pop star Madonna thanked her ex-husbands for encouraging her to take up a career in movies as she arrived in Venice on Thursday for the world premiere of her lavish royal drama W.E.

The 53-year-old celebrity has been married to US actor and director Sean Penn and British filmmaker Guy Ritchie and has spent much of the last few years behind the camera rather than on the stage.

W.E., her second feature film, appears at the Venice film festival outside the main competition, but the presence of one of the world's biggest celebrities inevitably dominated the attention of the world's press.