Madonna tears up remembering her late mother

Pop superstar Madonna choked back tears on Monday (23Jan12) as she paid tribute to her mother at the New York premiere of her historical movie W.E.

The Material Girl hitmaker stepped behind the camera to direct the drama about the love affair between British royal Edward VIII and American divorcee Wallis Simpson, and the theme tune she recorded for the feature, Masterpiece, has already claimed her a Golden Globe for Best Original Song.

Madonna walked the red carpet again on Monday as she debuted the film in the Big Apple and later warned the audience at Manhattan's Ziegfeld Theatre that she was overly tired.

She told the crowd, "Anybody that knows me knows that when I'm tired, I cry. If I cry, please, just don't hold it against me. I'm really not a sentimental kind of a person."

And her emotions got the better of her as she presented the movie to the audience.

A tearful Madonna said, "Finally, I would like to thank my mother. Because, really, this story is the story of a female's... the journey of a female, soul. And my mother gave me life."