Madonna And Her Children Cover People Magazine

Madonna and her adopted children, all from Malawi, are the cover stars for People Magazine‘s latest issue. The award winning icon pop singer details her difficulties adopted her children at different times from the same orphanage in Malawi. Read excerpts from her interview with the magazine:



The singer first saw son David Banda at Home of Hope, an orphanage in Lilongwe, Malawi’s capital city. He was a baby battling pneumonia and malaria at the time, and feeling an instant connection, she began the adoption process. But when she brought him home to London in 2008, the reception wasn’t anything she’d imagined.

“Every newspaper said I kidnapped him,” Madonna says. “In my mind, I was thinking, ‘Wait a minute. I’m trying to save somebody’s life. Why are you all s—-ing on me right now?’ I did everything by the book. That was a real low point for me. I would cry myself to sleep.”

Madonna met Mercy James around the same time as David, and adopting her was even more difficult. Because she had recently divorced Ritchie, Malawian officials told her “I was not capable of raising a child,” she says. “The way I was treated — that sexist behavior — was ridiculous,” adds Madonna, who successfully challenged the refusal in Malawi’s Supreme Court and brought home Mercy in 2009.

“I’ve had some pretty dark moments,” she says, “but I’m a survivor.” In February, the star brought home Estere and Stella, orphaned twins whom she met at Home of Hope 2½ years ago. Last summer, she again began the adoption process, which she says was just as rigorous: “Because I’m a public figure, people don’t want to be perceived as giving me any kind of special treatment, so I get the hard road.” “It’s complicated, but it’s so worth it.”