Malawi is hardcore when it comes to adopting kids. Though there were a lot of accusations flying around about Madonna’s adoption of David Banda – most involving special treatment – the country has been rigid about required follow-ups. Special representatives must visit Madonna and her husband, director Guy Ritchie, in England twice, and make recommendations about whether or not the couple should be able to actually adopt David. Even though he’s been living with the family for about a year, the process is far from complete. Apparently the process had hit a snag when Penstone Kilembe, a Malawian official for the courts, was denied permission to travel to London by the Malawian minister of women and child development. Apparently they felt he’d “personalized” the adoption by accepting travel accommodations and money from Madonna. It sounds like they were worried he had been bribed, and just used a nicer word for it. Well it turns out all is well, and Kilembe gets to travel to London after all.

“An official appointed by a Malawi court to assess whether Madonna and her husband would be suitable parents for the child they are seeking to adopt said on Monday he will visit the couple in Britain next month. ‘There has been a change of mind by my government minister and she has allowed me to leave for the UK on September 4 and I am expected to spend two weeks,’ Penstone Kilembe, who had been refused permission to travel to Britain, told Reuters.

“Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie’s attempts to adopt David Banda hit a snag earlier this month when the Malawian minister of women and child development refused to grant Kilembe permission to travel to Britain to assess their suitability. Minister Kate Kainja told a Malawian weekly ‘we feel Mr. Kilembe personalized the whole issue’ and other people could go.

“A Malawi newspaper reported Kilembe was prevented from traveling to Britain because he had accepted a plane ticket and money from Madonna without government approval. Kilembe dismissed the suggestions he asked the pop star for a ticket. ‘What we had with the minister was just a misunderstanding and that has been resolved. Madonna herself has been informed about the new proposed dates because she has been looking forward to this so that her adoption process is not hampered,’ he said.”

[From Reuters]

A lot of adoption and children’s rights groups have said Madonna is using her fame and money to evade Malawi’s adoption laws, which she had always denied. Penstone Kilembe will testify regarding his opinions on Madonna and Guy Ritchie’s parental fitness next year. It’s amazing that a country would go to such great lengths to ensure that one of it’s semi-orphaned children is adopted into a loving home. But something tells me this has more to do with the worldwide scrutiny this case has received. And not many people would consider Madonna to be particularly warm. Hopefully she’s doing this for the right reasons – they’ve certainly made her jump through a lot of hoops. Let’s hope she’s a good mom and gets the kid – and never tries to adopt again.

Picture note by JayBird: Here’s Madonna Arrives At Her Local Gym on July 21st. You gotta admire her commitment. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have talked quite a bit about their desired to make sure their adopted children feel really integrated and connected with their family, while understanding their own cultural heritages. Angelina has always seemed especially worried that their only natural child, Shiloh, has unfair advantages, both within the family and life in general. As a result, she and Brad have said they would like to “even out” their family racially and culturally. According to the Daily Mail the pair are planning to adopt again, likely from Ethiopia.

“Amid ongoing rumours of an irreparable rift with her partner Brad Pitt, the 32-year-old Oscar-winning star is preparing to travel with him to Ethiopia in three months to adopt another baby - their fourth non-biological child.

“According to sources close to the pair, they hope that another adoption will shore up their relationship as well as helping Zahara, the Ethiopian girl they adopted two years ago, feel more connected to the rest of the family.

“Miss Jolie adopted her eldest son Maddox, from Cambodia, five years ago prior to the start of her relationship with Pitt.

“Earlier this year the couple adopted Pax Thien, three, from Vietnam.

“’Brad and Angie have made no secret of the fact that they are keen to extend their rainbow family,’” said a source close to the couple.

“’But they’ve always been very careful to ensure that they leave enough time between kids so that that each child fully integrates into the family and feels truly settled.’”

[From the Daily Mail]

I really hope they aren’t adopting a kid to save their relationship; that would be just as bad as getting pregnant when there’s trouble, hoping it’ll fix things. That’s a completely unfair burden to put on a child, So let’s hope that’s just ridiculous speculation. I think Angelina’s constant worry about Shiloh having too many advantages is kind of bizarre. She’s talked about it quite a bit, and there was that whole, “blob” incident where Angelina said, “’Shiloh seemed so privileged from the moment she was born. I have less inclination to feel for her… A newborn really is this…Yes, a blob! But now she’s starting to have a personality…I’m conscious that I have to make sure I don’t ignore her needs, just because I think the others are more vulnerable.’” While she kind of backed away from those statements, she still seems to have this guilt or passive-aggressive resentment towards Shiloh that I just don’t understand.

“Angie in particular feels very strongly that while Shiloh will grow up seeing the family resemblance between herself and her natural parents, and Maddox and Pax will feel a connection through their birthplaces, Zahara has no such close-knit bond.”

[From the Daily Mail]

It’s awesome that they’re looking out for Zahara and making sure she doesn’t feel like the odd girl out, but I can’t help but worry that, in the end, it’ll be Shiloh that gets the short end of the stick. You hardly ever see her out with Angelina when compared to the other kids. I can’t imagine any kid getting luckier, genetically, than Shiloh. It’ll be interesting to see how she turns out. If Brad and Angie are so big on making sure all their kids are represented, theoretically they should have another biological kid to give Shiloh a similar-looking sibling. However at that point, it would seem more like they had teams rather than kids. My favorite quote from the article has Angelina talking about how pricey it is to have kids. “”Brad and I want to continue to adopt, but keeping a big family is expensive.” Hey, if it’s that expensive, how about not spending $18,000 a night on your hotel? Just a thought.

Picture note by JayBird: Here’s Brad and Angie at the Ocean’s 13 Los Angeles Movie Premiere on June 5th. Header image at the Mighty Heart NYC premiere on June 13th. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Jessica Simpson is back to doing what I loved best from her show Newlyweds. Saying silly stuff.

“The first time I went to that orphanage, I was 16. I remember holding this baby who was found in a dumpster. I wanted to adopt him right then and there. I was like, ‘Dad, can I have him for my birthday, please?’”

Post Chronicle

Love ya Jess.

The other thing she did particularly well was whinge and behave like a brat, and apparently she’s been doing that on the set of her new film Major Movie Star.

A source has said that “Jessica is acting like a spoiled brat, and that She throws tantrums and gripes about the heat. After a week of having to tolerate her, we’re all ready for her to pack her bags and hit the road.”

Product Review
Unfortunately, Jessica acting stupid in a film isn’t that great. I know, it should be a winning formula, but it somehow doesn’t make it. Check out this YouTube clip if you don’t believe me. Still, these crazy one liners are the reason we still care about her today.

“Jessica, you want some buffalo wings?”
“Sorry I don’t eat buffalo.”

“Is this chicken, what I have, or is this fish? I know it’s tuna, but it says ‘Chicken by the Sea.’”

“Twenty-three is old. It’s almost 25, which is like almost mid-20s.”

Jessica: “Ooh I love this scent.”
Friend: “What is it?”
Jessica: “Ah…oh, it’s unscented.”

Thinkexist.com

I have got to go and get me some Newlyweds DVDs to watch. I miss Nick and Jessica so much.

I think, if I ever have to live another life, I’d like Jessica’s. Nick Lachey and John Mayer? She’s taken more than her fair share of hot guys. I’d like my slice please.

I think Ricky Martin has confused continental dining with continental adopting. The hip-shaking, bon bon eating singer has publicly pronounced that he would like to adopt children, “perhaps adopting ‘one from each continent’ if possible.”

“’It’s something we want to begin to create this year, a family of many colors,’ the 35-year-old pop star told reporters Wednesday in Puerto Rico, where he is scheduled to perform this weekend.

“Martin, who isn’t married, said he doesn’t expect special treatment in the adoption process.

“’I want to do it right,’ he said. ‘I don’t want any problems or misunderstandings. … Some think as celebrities we can manipulate the system to have a quicker adoption.’

“Martin, whose hits include ‘She Bangs,’ ‘Shake Your Bon-Bon’ and ‘Livin’ La Vida Loca,’ started the Ricky Martin Foundation to help children in need.”

[From MSNBC]

What the hell does he plan on adopting for Antarctica? A child-sized penguin? He could dress it up with a hat and little red shoes and include it in all the other family activities. Man, that’d be so cute. I would totally support Ricky Martin adopting a penguin. I feel conflicted about this whole celebrity adoption thing. On the one hand, I think a lot of them are doing it for the good publicity. I mean, nannies do most of the child-rearing, so what do they care if they add another kid to the pack? On the other hand, it’s impossible to know another person’s real motivations, and it is great that so many celebs are highlighting international adoption. Ricky Martin has actually done some pretty cool things for kids, so I really can’t make fun of him. Dammit. He’s done a lot of work to put an end to human trafficking and child predators in his native Puerto Rico. That’s a pretty important issue that is definitely not getting enough attention. Alright Ricky Martin, you have a pass on this one. But I expect to see you holding flippers with a penguin and six little children really, really soon.

Picture note by JayBird: Pictures are from Ricky Martin’s performance in Calabria, Italy on July 19, 2007. Images thanks to PR Photos.

Madonna created plenty of controversy when she adopted a Malawian boy named David, and the next step of the process should be interesting. A Malawi welfare inspector is coming to her and husband Guy Ritchie’s home for five days.

“Malawi is a conservative country that disapproves of drugs, alcohol, divorce and cheating. These assessments are very gruelling and many couples don’t pass.”

Kilembe could reportedly observe Madonna and Ritchie for up to five hours a day for up to five days, to judge how loving they are towards each other, as well as their other children, daughter Lourdes and son Rocco.

SF Gate

I don’t blame them for dreading it. Who would want a stranger in their home for so long? I know these are actually standard questions in some countries for those wanting to adopt, but that doesn’t make it any more comfortable. Madonna always seems like such a control freak, I just can’t imagine her giving her home over to someone, and revealing herself to someone interviewing her.

Baby David, who’s getting to be a big boy now, actually has a new sibling. His father Yohane Banda has remarried after David’s mother died, and now is expecting a baby in October. David’s other two siblings died from malaria.

Since Madonna’s adoption has been surrounded by controversy, I wonder if the welfare inspector will give it some respectability? After all, she did adopt a child who had a living parent, didn’t allow the father to see David on visits back to Malawi, and from a country where non-residents aren’t meant to adopt.

Personally, I’m scared of Madonna. She just seems so in control and kind of crazy. Like she could just nod to one of her people and your friends and family never hear from you again. Just me?

Picture note by Celebitchy: Here is Madonna going to the gym, to Kaballah, and then to a recording studio with Justin Timberlake. Thanks to PRPhotos for these pictures and description.

Goran Visnjic, one of the cast members of the forever, er I mean “long running,” ER, has a bit of a lady problem on his hands. Well I guess he has a bigger problem as a result of the lady problem - a kid problem. The Croatian actor, once labeled People Magazine’s Sexiest Import, apparently has fathered a child with a Croatian woman named Mirela Rupic. Rupic filed a paternity suit against Visnjic after he refused to acknowledge that her 4-month-old daughter is his.

Rupic said she was originally expecting that Visnjic would take financial responsibility for their child, and Visnjic has been aware of her pregnancy from the start. However she said he would never legally acknowledge their daughter as his own, which would obviously leave the child unprotected if Visnjic ever decided to back out on his financial obligations. It appears relations have deteriorated even further since then.

“The suit, filed in Croatia on behalf of 36-year-old Mirela Rupic, claims the 34-year-old actor refused to acknowledge his paternal role and is asking for a DNA test to prove he needs to take responsibility.

Rupic’s attorney, Nenad Skare, told the Associated Press his client had hoped to reach a settlement with Visnjic, but he turned them down.”

[From eonline]

Visnjic married his wife Ivana Vrdoljak, a sculptor, in 1999 - the same year he joined the cast of ER. The couple adopted a newborn boy this past April.

Visnjic is also leaving ER at the end of the season. It seems like he didn’t give his bosses a ton of notice. According to Hollywood.com, “TV bosses want Visnjic to star in six more episodes, to allow them time to write him out of the storyline, which involves his relationship with Dr. Abby Lockhart, played by Maura Tierney.” Somehow that makes me think they weren’t really planning on his exit anytime soon.

I really doubt the show will be worth watching without him. It feels like NBC is just pushing it way beyond its expiration point, which was about five years ago. It’s so formulaic that it’s hard to be invested anymore. I wonder if his exit has anything to do with the problems in his personal life. Perhaps to avoid anymore negative attention being focused on him? I can’t help but wonder what’s going on with his marriage. If he and his wife adopted their son in April, that’s just a month or so before his biological daughter was born to Rupic. All of this must feel like a shot through the heart for his poor wife. Even though he’s a good actor and his character is fairly compelling, he just strikes me as one of those people that thinks he should have whatever he wants. Wife? Check. Mistress? Check. But being responsible for the consequences? Well that’s someone else’s problem.

Goran and his plastic-surgery challenged wife, Ivana Vrdoljak.

Angelina Jolie and Maddox arrive in Vietnam

Shy three and a half year old Pham Quang Sang was plucked from the Tam Binh orphanage outside Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam by Angelina Jolie this morning. Jolie was seen with her bodyguard, driver, and five year old son, Maddox, after arriving in Vietnam by chartered jet late last night. She was also said to be accompanied by her daughters Zahara, 26 months, and Shiloh, 10 months. Angelina’s partner Brad Pitt did not join her to pick up their new adoptive child.

Jolie and Pham were driven from the orphanage to the Justice department, where adoption papers were signed and he was renamed Pax Thien Jolie. Angelina will visit the US Consulate later today to obtain a passport for the child and finalize the process. It is expected that he will go home with her this weekend.

Jolie’s new son was abandoned at the hospital when he was a baby and placed at the orphanage. No one has been able to find his birth parents. His new first name Pax means “peace” in Latin. His middle name Thien has several meanings in Vietnamese, according to an online dictionary.

Thiên is the verb “to move,” and also serves as an adjective meaning “inclined to” or “prone to”. There is also the word thiện in Vietnamese, which means “good” or “kind.”

Angelina’s new son’s name may mean “inclined to peace” or “peaceful and kind.” That’s really quite nice.

Update: Just Jared looked up the boy’s name, too, and offered this meaning.

In Latin, “PAX” means “peace.”

In Vietnamese, “THIEN” means “kind and good” or “helpful” or “heaven” or “quieting” or “bright.”

Another update: This seems to be the actual meaning. Vietnamese reader Kandice notes that “thien” means sky, although I have read in another source that it means “heaven” too, so his name may mean “peaceful sky”

Here are pictures of Angelina arriving in Vietnam with her older son, Maddox, and her bodyguard, Mickey Brett. Maddox looks scared and it must be a lot for him to take in. Angelina holds it together well considering how much she puts up with on a daily basis.

Thanks to Celebrity Dirty Laundry for these pics.

The story is that Angelina was working on adopting a Vietnamese baby since she paid a surprise visit to the country in November of last year. Everyone was a bit surprised to hear that she’s filed for adoption of a infant boy there using single status, and is not listed Brad as a co-parent. While she lives with Brad they are unmarried. Brad has also gone through the legal steps to adopt Angelina’s two adopted children, Zahara, 2, and Maddox, 5.

The NY Post stirs the pot a little by saying that Angelina is being favored by the Vietnamese government, because surely she wouldn’t be granted an adoption when filing as a single mother but cohabitating with the father of a biological child:

She filed for adoption as a single parent even though she lives with boyfriend Brad Pitt, who is the adoptive father of Jolie’s Cambodian son, Maddox, and Ethiopian daughter, Zahara, as well as the biological father of their daughter, Shiloh. (Shiloh and Brad are pictured above on the New Orleans set of the film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”) The State Department says it abides by Vietnamese rules when it comes to adoptions there. But, “This is a clear contradiction of Vietnamese law, and such situations would not be allowed for other couples,” said Tatiana Beams, an international adoption advocate. “Most co-habitating couples who try to adopt as a single parent are either turned away from agencies or face difficulties.”

A short while ago Angelina made a little sideways dig at Madonna in a statement about her controversial adoption from Malawai. She told a French magazine that she “would never take a child away from a place where adoption is illegal,” but tried to make nice by saying she has “been horrified by the attacks [Madonna’s] been subjected to [for adopting Davie].”

Page Six pointed out at the time that the agency Angelina used to adopt Maddox from Cambodia was convicted of fraud with the result that adoptions from Cambodia became much more difficult. They said she shouldn’t talk smack since her adoption record is not without its bumps, either.

It seems like she is using her celebrity status to expedite her latest adoption, something that the NY Post is quick to point out. The countries and adoption agencies are all too willing to bend the rules for some cash and publicity, though, and special favors seem inevitable for celebrities.

Here are pictures of Brad and Angelina in Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam on 11/23/06. Pictures from SimplyBrad.com.