US pop star Madonna has denied applying to adopt two more Malawian children while visiting the country where she runs a charity, and where she has previously been embroiled in controversy.
The claim originated from an official at the High Court in Lilongwe, Mlenga Mvula, the courts’ spokesman, who had earlier informed the local and international reporters that the court was assessing her adoption application.
Madonna, who set up children’s charity Raising Malawi in the poverty-stricken southern African nation in 2006, adopted Malawian children David Banda in 2006 and Mercy James in 2009.
According to reports by the local media, the singer had appeared at the court on Wednesday, accompanied by two unidentified children, before being driven away in an SUV vehicle.
“I am in Malawi to check on the children’s hospital in Blantyre and my other work with Raising Malawi and then heading home. The rumors of an adoption are untrue,” Madonna told US magazine People in a statement.
Madonna’s charity is funding a surgical unit for children at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Blantyre, the commercial hub of Malawi.
Adoption controversy
The 58-year-old singer last visited the hospital in July, taking her two adopted Malawian children with her. However, the former president Joyce Banda’s government in 2013, stripped the star of her VIP status, and accused her of being “uncouth” and wanting eternal gratitude from the country for her adoptions.
But Banda was ousted in 2014 elections and the new president, Peter Mutharika, moved to repair relations, saying “my government has always been grateful for the passion Madonna has for this country”.
Last July, Madonna said she would not revive plans for a $15 million (14 million euro) academy for girls in Malawi, which was cancelled amid allegations of mismanagement — leading to her tiff with Banda.
The singer, who divorced film director Guy Ritchie in 2008, has four children.
