A rep for Madonna didn’t return calls.
Dad’s doubts over Madonna adoption - Oct 22 2006
The biological father of 13-month-old ’Baby David’ has said that he was misled into agreeing to give up his son to American pop diva Madonna.
Yohane Banda said that authorities had not made it clear to him that he was giving up his only son "for good".
"Our understanding was that they (Madonna and her British filmmaker husband Guy Ritchie) would educate and take care of our son just as they were doing at the orphanage," said the 32-year-old illiterate peasant farmer in a telephone interview from Lipunga Village where he ekes out a living growing onions and tomatoes.
Banda signed adoption papers earlier this month, clearing the way for a judge to grant the celebrity couple a "temporary order" to take away the baby, who was flown to London last week.
Until now he has defended his move as in the best interests of his motherless son.
Madonna defends baby adoption - Oct 18 2006
Madonna has defended her adoption of an African baby boy and spoke of her joy at bringing him home to Britain.
The singer said she and husband Guy Ritchie began the adoption process many months ago and had acted "according to the law like anyone else who adopts a child".
The couple chose 13-month-old Malawian boy David Banda after learning there were more than one million orphans in the impoverished country.
The star said it was her wish "to open up our home and help one child escape an extreme life of hardship, poverty and in many cases death", adding: "This was not a decision or commitment that my family or I take lightly."
The family will now take time "to experience the joy we feel to have David home".
The superstar has sparked anger among children’s charities and human rights groups who claim she has used her celebrity to "buy" a baby and bypass the normal procedures.
The family will undergo an 18-month evaluation as David’s temporary custodians "after which time we hope to make this adoption permanent", she said in an open letter.
The 48-year-old said she had been "overwhelmed and inspired" by her trip to Malawi and hoped it would draw world attention to the plight of children in Africa.
She signed the letter "Madonna Ritchie".
Madonna’s baby arrives in UK - Oct 17 2006
The African baby Madonna is trying to adopt arrived in Britain today - to be greeted by the world’s media.
Last week, 13-month-old David Banda was living in an orphanage in poverty-stricken Malawi.
This morning he was whisked through Heathrow airport by the singer’s aides, his head covered, as photographers sought to get a glimpse of the youngster after he arrived on an overnight flight from Johannesburg.
He was then apparently driven to the star’s luxury home near London’s Marble Arch - where more photographers were waiting.
Anita Dobson
Dean Gaffney
Sylvie Guillem
Faces in Fashion
Sir Paul Smith
Valentino: Valentino Garavani
Musicians
Brain May, Queen
Brian May
Brian May
Writers & Artists
Lucian Freud
Michael Winner
News & Features
Big Brother 8
Celeb Rehab
Keeping up with the WAGs...
Profiles: Film
Angelina Jolie
Keira Knightley
Tom Cruise
Profiles: Music
Britney Spears
Kylie Minogue
Madonna
Profiles: Fashion
Kate Moss
Naomi Campbell
Victoria Beckham
The following year Madonna broke away from Kamins and recorded Holiday which went straight in to the American top 20 and was a hit across Europe. She cemented her raunchy image with Like A Virgin, her first US number one, and Material Girl with it’s iconic video. By this time Madonna was becoming one of the most emulated and best loved artists in the world and she became even more popular thanks to her part in Live Aid and a high profile marriage to Sean Penn.
The pop diva followed up her success with several singles from the True Blue album and turned her hand to acting for the first time in the poorly received A Certain Sacrifice and of course, Desperately Seeking Susan. Her first real flop was alongside her husband in the laughable Shanghai Surprise. Her failure’s in the film department didn’t stop David Mamet from casting her in a Broadway production of Speed the Plow - by this time talent or no, Madonna’s was name that guaranteed attention.
1989 saw the singer court controversy with the video for Like A Prayer, featuring a black Jesus, which outraged and shocked the Catholic church and caused Pepsi to cancel a sponsorship deal. But far from ruining her career, this stunt saw her become the icon that we know today. The 1990s were the pinnacle of Madonna’s success, her divorce from Sean Penn pushing her further in to the lime light, beginning with a part in Dick Tracy opposite Warren Beatty and a fantastic soundtrack album alongside featuring hit song Vogue. Documentary film Truth or Dare and her Blonde Ambition tour (with that pointy bra) followed with further controversy.
In 1992 she signed a multi million pound deal with Time Warner guaranteeing the release of music, films and books through her own record label, Maverick. She made the most of the deal with picture book Sex, which caused another controversy but rocketed up the bestsellers charts nonetheless. Erotica was her first album for years though not to generate a US number one. People thought that perhaps Madonna had gone too far with her need to shock, and perhaps she had realised it too as her next album was far mellower and a part in Evita in 1996 made her bankable again.
Later that year she fell pregnant with Lourdes Maria Ciccone Leon, daughter of her personal trainer. But far from slowing her work, having a child only seemed to spur Madonna on, she released the runaway success, Ray of Light which produced hit after hit and recorded Beautiful Stranger for the second Austin Powers movie. she also starred alongside Rupert Everett in romantic comedy The Next Best Thing.
It was around this time that Madonna met British director Guy Ritchie - the man who would change her life. They had son Rocco in 2000 and they married in 2002 after Madonna moved permanently to England, took to wearing flat caps and drinking tea. The title track of her album Music gave her a transatlantic number one hit. Collaborations with Ritchie, especially their film Swept Away, have generally been unsuccessful but Madonna’s music career continues to go from strength to strength, her latest album American Life has been a worldwide hit and she has even found time to pen a children’s book, The English Roses. Now, an honorary Brit and devout follower of Kaballah, Madonna lives with her family in Marylebone and Wiltshire. She also owns a ?4 million Spanish-style villa in Beverly Hills, a house in Miami and a duplex overlooking Central Park in New York.
(Updated April 04)
October 2007