Madonna Discusses the Highs and Lows of Adopting Her Children

Madonna’s life seems glamorous 24/7 — she’s a pop star of the highest degree and has been successful in so many ventures. However, that’s not to say that Madonna’s life is perfect. She recently opened up to People.com about being a mother and the emotional stress and lows of adopting her children from Malawi.

Madonna is “Mambo” (mom) to six children —  Lourdes, 20, Rocco, 17, David, 11, Mercy, 11, and 5-year-old twins Estere and Stella — four of which were adopted from Malawi.

She had daughter Lourdes with former boyfriend Carlos Leon and Rocco with ex-husband Guy Ritchie. When she brought her son David home to London in 2008 after adopting him from Malawi, she expected a loving reception, but found that wasn’t the case.

“Every newspaper said I kidnapped him,” Madonna told People. “In my mind, I was thinking, ‘Wait a minute. I’m trying to save somebody’s life. Why are you all s—-ing on me right now?’ I did everything by the book. That was a real low point for me. I would cry myself to sleep.”

While she was adopting David, Madonna was also working to adopt Mercy, but this proved to be more difficult, as she had just divorced Ritchie and Malawian officials said that as a single woman, she was incapable of raising Mercy.

“The way I was treated — that sexist behavior — was ridiculous,” said Madonna. She challenged the officials’ ruling in court and was able to go through with her adoption of Mercy.

Nuff Said………..💪🏼💪🏾💪🏻🌈🌍🌏🌎💯🎉🎉🎉🎉🙏🏻@raisingmalawi @people

A post shared by Madonna (@madonna) on Sep 7, 2017 at 5:39am PDT

Last summer, Madonna began the adoption process of her youngest children, the twins Estere and Stella.

Even though she had been through the adoption process many times by then, it was still pretty difficult this time around: “Because I’m a public figure, people don’t want to be perceived as giving me any kind of special treatment, so I get the hard road.”

“It’s complicated, but it’s so worth it.”

Despite all of the ups and downs in her adoption process, Madonna’s day to day life with her kids is about as normal as it gets. Movies like Moana and Sing play on a loop at their home.

In a funny twist, the twins heard a song by Madonna, and their older brother explained that their mom was the singer, which confused the little ones.  Speaking of her hit music career, Madonna said that the twins “don’t have a clue.”

Adding, “And that’s a good thing. I’m just their mother.”