Who's That Girl: The Orphan Madonna Can't Adopt
April 3 2009, Published 2:22 p.m. ET
When a Judge in Malawi ruled against Madonna’s adoption of 4-year-old orphan Mercy James today he prevented her from entering the household of one of the world’s wealthiest women.
It’s estimated that Madonna, 50, is worth around $500 million dollars despite her recent divorce from British film director Guy Ritchie.
The “Material Mom” has several lavish homes in Los Angeles, Miami and New York, boasting some of the world’s finest art and army of personal servants to answer her every whim.
It is reported that before today’s court decision she had told her staff at her London home to get ready for “my daughter’s arrival.”
They were instructed to create a nursery for Mercy lavished with expensive cuddly toys, fresh flowers and fine furnishings.
But the reality is the tiny tot -- whose real name is “Chifundo” -- will be returning to the Home Of Hope Orphanage with 500 other kids and will sleep in a basic dorm on a small cot bed.
The Home Of Hope was founded by retired Presbyterian cleric Rev Thom Chiepta and offers a refuge to needy children in a country where HIV is rampant among the 12 million population which has an estimated 2 million orphans.
Mercy’s teenage mother died soon after she gave birth and she was being looked after by her grandmother and uncle in a shanty town before entering the orphanage.
At the orphanage she has three simple meals per day like rice and bread and will soon attend basic reading and writing lessons in classes crammed with over 50 kids.
In contrast Madonna’s three children-- Lourdes, 12, Rocco, 8, and David, 3-- dine on meals prepared by private chefs, attend the best private schools, fly around the world in private jets and have bodyguards following them 24/7.
In her declaration to the court Madonna said: “I am willing to securely provide for Chifundo James and make her a permanent and established member of my family. To deny Chifundo James the opportunity to be adopted by me could expose her to hardship and emotional trauma which is otherwise avoidable.”
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Madonna is expected to appeal today’s decision. (Photo: WENN)
