Monday, 22 June 2009

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How much did Mercy cost Madonna?

As the adoption finally succeeds, we look at what Madge spent

Madonna is delighted she can now have another daughter

When Madonna told the Malawian orphanage where little Mercy James was living that she would ‘adopt the child at any cost’, the 50-year-old wasn’t kidding.

Now can reveal she’s splashed out over $7 million to make sure she can take 3-year-old Mercy back home to New York.

When Madonna adopted David Banda three years ago, she pledged to do all she could to aid up to a million Malawian orphans. She ploughed in $6 million to set up the Raising Malawi foundation in 2006 and also established the Raising Malawi Academy For Girls, an exclusive boarding school opening in 2011 where pupils will be taught Kabbalah.

Due to her heavy donations, Madonna’s been able to sidestep the usual problems foreigners have owning property and land.

Madonna’s also spent $600,000 putting money into 6 orphanages. This includes the Home Of Hope in Mchinji where David, now 3, was adopted from in October 2006, and the Kondanani Orphanage, close to the capital Lilongwe, where Mercy was living.

In April, Madonna removed Mercy from the orphanage and had her placed in the luxury Kumbali Lodge, where she’d block-booked all 13 rooms for two months, costing $3,000 a day, with Mercy cared for by a huge army of staff.

Madonna’s team of advisers and lawyers are the next biggest outlay, totalling nearly $1 million when you take into account her two legal teams, one based in Malawi and the other in New York.

The pressure group Eye Of The Child has campaigned ferociously against the way Madonna’s been able to brush aside the law in Malawi, but even they’ve admitted defeat in the face of her millions and the power she wields.

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See the full story about Madonna and Mercy in new look Now magazine dated 22 June 2009 - out now!