If Madonna could've been anyone else besides Madonna, she would've been Elizabeth Taylor.

Madonna told Taylor at her 65th birthday party, she grew up idolizing her. She said "I wanted to ride horses with my long, lustrous hair trailing behind me. I wanted to swing on a swing set with a velvet dress on. I wanted violet eyes and translucent skin."

She said she also wanted the 16-inch waistline of Taylor's youth and "wanted Montgomery Clift, Paul Newman, James Dean and Rock Hudson to put their arms around it."

Taylor died today of congestive heart failure. Her four children were by her side.

macleans.ca/the associated press