Madonna Urges Others to Adopt from Malawi

Madonna and Angelina Jolie may have to agree to disagree on the matter of international adoption.

After Jolie criticized Madonna's intended adoption of 16-month-old David Banda as "illegal" in a recent interview, Madonna has countered with her belief that she was "saving a life" by taking the Malawian boy into her home.

The Material Mom appeared on The Late Show with David Letterman Thursday and urged more potential parents to consider adopting from the impoverished nation, despite the complex legal issues surrounding the process.

"There's over a million orphans in Malawi, and in my opinion the laws need to change because these children need to be rescued," Madonna said.

Just don't expect Jolie to look to Malawi when it comes time to add a new member to her family.

"Personally, I prefer to stay on the right side of the law," the Oscar winner and veteran adopter recently told French magazine Gala. "I would never take a child away from a place where adoption is illegal."

Even so, Jolie expressed sympathy for Madonna, stating she was "horrified" by the attacks to which the singer had been subjected and urging others to be supportive.

Madonna acknowledged that she had been warned that adopting a child from Malawi would be difficult.

"My social worker...said, 'Good luck. You're going to be making it up as you go along,'  " she recalled Thursday. "She didn't say don't do it, but she just said expect challenges, and, boy, did we get them."

In the wake of the singer's controversial adoption, a coalition of 67 Malawian human rights groups challenged a judge's decision to grant Madonna and husband Guy Ritchie interim custody of David, accusing the couple of using their celebrity status to fast-track the process.

Madonna has repeatedly insisted that she and Ritchie were granted no special treatment and went through the proper legal channels while pursuing their adoption of David. The couple was allowed to take the child home to London, but was required to submit to monitoring by child welfare officials for 18 months, after which point the adoption may be finalized.

The first official court assessment of the couple's fitness as adoptive parents is expected to take place in May. So far, the Ritchies have received glowing reviews from officials keeping tabs on the situation.

"We have been monitoring her, and so far we see a loving mother in Madonna, and David is very fine," spokesperson Adrina Mchiela told Reuters last week.

In a rare live appearance on Thursday's Today show, Madonna told Meredith Vieira that life with three children is "amazing," and that her 10-year-old daughter, Lourdes, helps babysit her new little brother. The singer also has a six-year-old son, Rocco, with Ritchie.

Madonna also said that all the hassles she endured in order to bring David into her family were worth it.

"Now people know about Malawi. Now people know about the orphans there. And now David's home," she said.

While she was making the TV rounds, Madonna also took the opportunity to weigh in on a couple of recent celebrity debacles—namely, Rosie O'Donnell's feud with Donald Trump and Britney Spears' apparent aversion to underpants.

"People are giving Rosie a hard time. I wish they'd stop, I don't think it's fair," the singer said on Today  in defense of her A League of Their Own costar.

"She's a stand-up comic. All stand-up comics talk about provocative things in their monologues before shows."

As for Spears, with whom she infamously shared a lip-lock at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, Madonna said the two are no longer in touch.

"We shared a kiss, and I never saw her again. That’s how it goes in my life," she joked on Today.

However, the pop star said she was well aware of Spears' recent tendency to flash her naked nether regions while out on the town.

"I've been hearing these stories—it's dreadful," she told David Letterman.

"I love underpants."