Madonna: call me Esther

Her image has shifted from Marilyn Monroe wannabe to dominatrix to crucifix-wearing rebel.

Now Madonna, the queen of pop, wants to take on a whole new identity and be known as - Esther.

The 45-year-old singer was inspired to adopt the Hebrew name by her devotion to the mystic Jewish faith of Kabbalah. She said: 'I was named after my mother who died, when she was very young, of cancer. I wanted to attach myself to the energy of a different name, but this is in no way a negation of who my mother is.'

In a US interview broadcast tomorrow, Madonna also gives an insight into how she raised her own children.

She said: 'They have to clean up their mess, clean up their rooms. Manners, thank you, please, take your dishes to the sink. Gratitude, being grateful, that is, that has to happen.

'If it's traditional to be a decent human being, then I'm traditional.'

Less traditional is her tidiness mantra for her children: 'Pick up your s**t.' Madonna and film director husband Guy Ritchie have a son together, fouryearold Rocco. Madonna also has a seven-year-old daughter, Lourdes, from previous relationship with her former personal trainer, Carlos Leon.