Guy Ritchie: another Malawi adoption possible

LONDON: Madonna may be trying to adopt a second child from Malawi, her husband Guy Ritchie was quoted as saying in an interview published Sunday.

The Observer Magazine asked the British filmmaker whether there was any truth to tabloid reports that he and Madonna were working to adopt a second child from the impoverished south African nation.

"Possibly," Ritchie was quoted as saying.

A representative for Ritchie could not immediately be located to comment on the report. Madonna's New York-based publicist Liz Rosenberg did not immediately return an e-mail.

Ritchie and Madonna already have a 2-year-old son from Malawi. David Banda, whose adoption was finalized only thee months ago, lives with the couple in London.
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The Sun newspaper earlier this month quoted a Malawian official as saying that Madonna's representatives had been visiting another child in the country and that the government was waiting for the singer to make a formal application for adoption.

David's adoption was a trying process for the singer, who had to wait months for her custody to be endorsed by the chaotic Malawian justice system — all the while enduring criticism from children's advocacy groups who accused her of using her celebrity to improperly influence the process. She denied the allegations.

Speaking at the Cannes Film Festival in May, she compared the process to the pain of childbirth.

"It was a big struggle," she said.

Madonna, who found David while launching a project to help the Malawi's 2 million AIDS orphans, still maintains a strong interest in the country. She is currently funding her own and six other orphanages there, and has produced and narrated a documentary, "I Am Because We Are," which shows how poverty and disease are devastating the lives of Malawi's children.

Besides David, Madonna and Ritchie have a son, Rocco, 8, and Madonna has a daughter, Lourdes, 11, from a previous relationship.

Madonna is on a world tour to promote her new album: "Hard Candy," while Ritchie's new movie "RocknRolla" — a gritty British crime romp in the style of "Snatch" — is set for release this fall.