NEW YORK – Madonna (search) isn't the person she once was — and that's the way she wants it. These days, the former Material Girl spends more time with her two children than she does performing. She collects art instead of boyfriends, and she's traded in her leather and lace undergarments for more demure outfits.
In the August issue of Vogue magazine, Madonna is featured in a lengthy interview and a photo spread at the English country estate she shares with her children, 8-year-old Lourdes (Lola) and 4-year-old Rocco, and her director-husband, Guy Ritchie (search) ("Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels").
The photos include Madonna feeding chickens on the lawns of Ashcombe wearing a cream-colored Grace Kelly-inspired chiffon dress and cashmere cardigan and playing dress-up with her children in her sitting room while wearing a yellow cashmere cardigan and multicolored polka-dot silk dress.
She shares her wedding album with writer Hamish Bowles, finally allowing an outsider to see her in her gown, an ivory duchesse satin dress with an hourglass corset bodice and crinoline skirts. (Madonna and Ritchie were married in December 2000.)
The 46-year-old singer-actress says she's different from the sexed-up star featured in 1991's "Madonna: Truth or Dare." In some ways, that film is hard for her to watch, she tells Vogue.
"I was a very selfish person. You go through periods of your life where the world does revolve around you, but you can't live your whole life that way," she is quoted as saying. "On the other hand, I kind of admire my spunk and directness!"
Madonna stars in a new documentary, "I'm Going to Tell You a Secret (search)," that is due out later this year. She says the film "starts with the struggle of a dancer trying to get into a show" and ends with her visit to Israel.
The film also features parts of Madonna's most recent tour, called "Re-Invention."
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