Madonna blames media for adoption flap

CHICAGO, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Singer Madonna, in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, blamed the media for the furor over her adoption of a 13-month-old boy from Malawi.

In a satellite chat from London taped Monday, Madonna told Winfrey she and film director husband Guy Ritchie had planned to adopt a child for two years and that her philanthropic foundation, Raising Malawi, had taken her to Africa.

She said David, the toddler, had been at the Home for Hope orphanage with 500 children since he was 2 weeks old and had pneumonia. His mother and three siblings had died of AIDS, she said.

"When I met him, he was extremely ill," Madonna said. "He had severe pneumonia and he could hardly breathe."

A government minister tracked down the boy's father, Yohane Banda, and Banda told Madonna through an interpreter that if she didn't take David, he would bury him. The impoverished farmer later said he was not clear Madonna was taking his son "for good" and thought she was going to take custody and help educate him. Banda told Time.com he would not contest the adoption.

Madonna blames the media for "terrorizing" Banda.

"I wouldn't say I'm hurt by it but I would say I'm disappointed," she said. "I understand that gossip and telling negative stories sells newspapers. But I think for me, I'm disappointed because it discourages other people from doing the same thing (adopting)."