Monday, 8 January 2007

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Angelina Jolie: We should support Madonna

Actress says a lot of her positive comments weren't reported

Despite her comments in a French magazine, Angelina Jolie wasn't trying to criticize Madonna for adopting a child from Malawi, she says.

"The article included many falsehoods," Jolie said in a statement on Monday. "I said many positive things that were omitted. I feel we must focus on the present and I encourage everyone to be supportive so that every child can adjust nicely to their new home."

In an interview in Gala magazine, Jolie, 31, said of Madonna and her efforts to adopt 1-year-old David Banda: "Madonna knew the situation in Malawi, where (David) was born. It's a country where there is no real legal framework for adoption. Personally, I prefer to stay on the right side of the law. I would never take a child away from a place where adoption is illegal."

But Jolie, whose son Maddox, 5, and Zahara, who turned 2 on Monday, are from Cambodia and Ethiopia, respectively, has sympathy for the singer. "I have been horrified by the attacks she's been subjected to," she says. "All that should count is the happiness of her little David."

On Friday, Malawian child welfare official Adrina Mchiela said the government is satisfied with the way Madonna has been caring for David. "We have been monitoring her and so far we see a loving mother in Madonna and David is very fine," she told Reuters.

Human rights groups, however, have argued that Madonna, 48, used her wealth and celebrity to bypass Malawi's laws governing adoption by foreigners.

In her interview with Gala, Jolie also talks about her relationship with Brad Pitt. "Don't go repeating it whatever you do, but, yes I love him. I love him a lot," she says. "After I met him my life seemed more harmonious."