Madonna thanks exes for support

U.S. pop star Madonna, director of the movie "W.E", poses during a photocall at the 68th Venice Film Festival September 1, 2011.[Photo/Agencies]

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.

The film re-tells the story of American divorcee Wallis Simpson, whose affair with Britain's King Edward VIII led him to abdicate the throne. It does so through the eyes of another US citizen Wally Winthrop, played by Abbie Cornish, who lives in New York in the 1990s and becomes obsessed with the life of a woman with whom she bears an uncanny resemblance.

"I am and was attracted to very creative people, which is why I married Sean Penn and Guy Ritchie, two very talented directors," Madonna told reporters after a press screening of W.E.

"They both encouraged me as a director and as a creative person to do what I did, and they were both very supportive," added the singer, who wore a short-sleeved black dress with white trim.

She said that she hoped the success of The King's Speech, set at the same time and in a similar world to W.E., would help and not harm her project.

"I was a little bit nervous, because I thought, 'oh dear, if someone else is making a movie about the same time-frame, then who would be interested in my movie?'

"But then I saw the film and I saw that it was from a completely different point of view, and I view the success of that film as sort of laying the groundwork for my movie.

"So there is a little bit of history and a little bit of knowledge, and we are not starting with a blank slate," Madonna said.