Date of Birth: August 16, 1958

Relationships:
Jesus Luz (2009 - )
Guy Ritchie, ex-husband (2000 to 2008; divorce final in Jan. 2009)
Carlos Leon, ex-boyfriend (1994 to 1997)
Warren Beatty, ex-boyfriend (1989 to 1990)
Sean Penn, ex-husband (1985 to 1989)
John "Jellybean" Benitez, ex-boyfriend (1983 to 1985)
Steve Bray, ex-boyfriend (1980 to 1982)

Dan Gilroy, ex-boyfriend (1979 to 1980)

Children:
Lourdes Maria "Lola" Ciccone Leon, daughter (10/14/1996)
Rocco John Ritchie, son (8/11/2000)
David Banda, adopted son (9/24/2005)

Mercy James, adopted daughter

Biography:

In 1958 Madonna and Tony Ciccone welcome their first daughter, Madonna Louise Veronica Ciccone, in Bay City, Michigan. She is nicknamed Nonni to avoid confusion with Mom. When Nonni is 5, her mother, 36, dies of breast cancer.

Madonna, attending the University of Michigan on a dance scholarship, drops out after two years and moves to New York, where she lives in a series of ramshackle apartments while studying and dancing.

After four years of struggling to earn money by modeling, dancing and singing, Madonna's first single, "Everybody," puts her over the top in the New York club scene. Performs "Holiday" on Dick Clark's "American Bandstand."

Releases her debut self-titled album in 1983 which includes radio perennials "Lucky Star" and "Holiday." "Borderline" becomes the first in a string of 13 consecutive Top 5 hits.

Vamping at the very first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984, Madonna performs "Like a Virgin" on top of a giant white wedding cake.

In 1985 she marries Sean Penn, who she met on the set of her "Material Girl" video, in Malibu in front of 200 guests. They split in 1989.

Makes her big-screen debut in Desperately Seeking Susan. (1985)

Her controversial "Like a Prayer" video in 1989 forces Pepsi to drop her from it's advertising campaign. She keeps the $US5 million they paid her.

Madonna stars opposite Warren Beatty in 1990's Dick Tracy and they begin a short-lived romance.

MTV bans Madonna's five-minute "Justify My Love" video in 1990, which features S&M, bondage, lesbian sex and rampant nudity.

in 1991 she walks the Oscar red carpet with Michael Jackson.

The black-and-white documentary Truth or Dare (1991) chronicles many intimate moments during her 1990 Blond Ambition tour.

In 1992 Madonna releases Sex, a book of erotic pictures of herself.

Madonna, who was raised a strict Catholic, becomes an avid devotee of Kabbalah, a form of Jewish mysticism in 1996.

On Oct. 14, 1996 Madonna gives birth to Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon, her daughter with personal trainer Carlos Leon.

Madonna stars as Eva Perón in Evita (1996)which earns her a Golden Globe.

Madonna meets Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels director Guy Ritchie (10 years her junior) at a 1998 luncheon. Two years later, the couple have baby boy, Rocco, and they marry in the Great Hall of Scotland's 19th-century Skibo Castle.

In 2002 Ritchie directs Madonna in Swept Away, a critical and box office flop.

During the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera join Madonna onstage for a much talked about performance that ends with Madonna locking lips with Aguilera and then Spears.

Madonna releases Confessions on a Dance Floor in 2007.

In 2008, Madonna's adoption of 2-year-old Malawian toddler David Banda is finalised.

After being plagued with reports of having an affair with New York Yankees star Alex Rodriguez, Madonna and Ritchie announced the end of their marriage in 2008. In January, 2009, their divorce becomes final, with Ritchie reportedly being awarded between $76 million and $92 million from the pop star.

Madonna adopts 3-year-old Mercy James from Malawi.