Madonna ‘offered money to keep baby in Africa’

MADONNA offered to financially help the father of the baby boy she is trying to adopt so he could keep his son in Malawi, she said last night.

In her first British interview about the adoption of baby David Banda on BBC2’s Newsnight, Madonna told presenter Kirsty Wark her offer was refused by Yohane Banda.

“I offered that option to the father and he declined,” Madonna said.

Last week, Madonna, 48, appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show to defend her decision to adopt 13-month-old David from an orphanage in Malawi.

Some critics believe Winfrey gave the singer an easy ride in the interview.

Madonna has said she was stunned by the furore the adoption has caused.

“I didn’t realise that the adoption was causing any controversy until I came back,” she told Winfrey after her return from Africa.

“It didn’t really hit me until I got back to England. It’s pretty shocking.”

She flew to the US at the beginning of the week with David and her other children Lourdes, nine, and Rocco, five.

The interview came as David’s father said the boy was due to be adopted by another American family, but Madonna took him first.

Mr Banda said an American woman had recently adopted three children from the Home of Hope orphanage, and wanted her brother to have David.

He told Closer magazine: “Her brother’s name was also David, and she sent him pictures of my son, and said he was going to come and collect him.

“We were waiting for them both to come back to the village, but Madonna took him first. If these Americans had adopted him, no one would have ever caused this fuss and I could be living my life as normal.”

Mr Banda hit out at Madonna’s claims that David was abandoned to an orphanage and never visited by his family.

“David was not an abandoned baby. He was very much loved,” he said.

“These are lies Madonna is telling — she must be repeating someone’s lies. I think people are jealous and are making things up about my family.”

But he insisted: “I made the right decision. I am glad he’s been adopted and every day I am happy knowing my son will lead a better life.

“All children need a mother. How can I deny him that right?”

Madonna insisted she had offered David’s father financial assistance to look after the child, which had been refused.

“I offered that option to the father and he declined,” she said. “I never met a granny. I was told that from the day that he was left at the orphanage that he was not visited by any extended family.”