Madonna never thought she’d have to work so hard to justify her love. 

The “Express Yourself” purveyor said in an interview with Meredith Vieira scheduled to air Wednesday and Thursday on the Today show that the public’s reaction to her decision to adopt a 13-month-old Malawian child is a depressing indicator of the overall state of the world. 

"With all the chaos, pain and suffering in the world, the fact that my adoption of a child—who was living in an orphanage, you know—was the number one story for a week in the world says more about our inability to focus on the real problems," Madonna said. "And our desires to have distractions and to be consumed with people’s personal lives and gossip.”

The Material Girl confirmed speculation several weeks ago that she and hubby Guy Ritchie were expanding their family tree. The London-based couple have been granted an interim adoption, with final approval expected in 18 months. Their new addition, David, who was described by his soon-to-be mum as "flirtatious" and "hysterically funny," is already living with them in the U.K and sporting a red string Kabbalah bracelet. 

Madonna has said that it wasn't until she returned to London that she realized every Tom, Dick and Harry had an opinion, whether it was that the pop star was doing it for the attention, or that she had received special treatment because of her celeb status. Or, others said, she had taken this little boy away from his father, who didn’t fully understand that his son was going away for good. 

"When I had my daughter [Lourdes], people accused me that I did it as a publicity stunt," Madonna said. "I expected that. I didn’t expect to be accused of kidnapping, or of doing something illegal. I didn’t expect to be demonized."  

Last week on Oprah, Madonna blamed the media for clouding David’s father’s view of what went down earlier this month in Malawi.  

She told Vieira that she did, in fact, offer Yohane Banda assistance if he wanted to resume caring for his son, whom he placed in an orphanage about one month after his wife died a week after David’s birth. 

"When I met him, I said 'I would be happy to facilitate to bring him back to your village and help you financially,’" Madonna recalled. "And he said 'no.’  "I couldn’t really understand that decision…I don’t want to judge him. And I don’t know his life. And, you know, I believe he remarried and had moved to another village and was kind of getting on with his life... So, when he said no, that was my sign that—that, you know, it was my responsibility to look after him." 

And again Banda defended the Material Mom, saying in an interview that will appear Thursday in Africa's Bunte magazine that "Madonna was like a bulldozer who has cleared the way for a better life for my son...She assured me she would take good care of David and raise him in peace."

In response to questions about why he refused the pop star's financial aid, he replied: "She knows what to do with a lot of money, and I don't. I could not have started anything with the money, and in the end it would have only spoiled things for me and David."  

In addition to the public’s jump to conclusions, Madonna also suggested to Vieira that the issue of race may be playing a role in the controversy. 

"I think it’s still considered taboo," she said. "I have people say to me when I’m walking down the street, 'Why did you adopt a black child?’ I don’t dignify their question with a reply. But there is a lot of racism in the world… A lot of people have a problem with the fact that I’ve adopted an African child, a child who has a different color skin than I do." 

Hard to imagine somebody actually going up to Madonna and saying that, but maybe after one too many pints… 

"I’m not going to buy into it, and neither are my children," the Detroit native said. "So, I don’t worry about it. I don’t live in a white world. I live in the world."

A world that once again placed Madonna at the center of a controversy this summer, over the mock crucifixion she staged during performances of the ballad "Live to Tell" on her Confessions tour. 

When asked by Vieira why she okayed NBC’s final decision to edit out that scene during a concert special airing Nov. 22,  the singer said that she compromised so that at least part of her message would remain intact. 

"My goal was to be able to talk about the AIDS epidemic in Africa, and to wake people up," she said. "And to talk about my foundation, Raising Malawi. So, if I say no…then I don’t get my show aired at all. If I say I’ll make a compromise, then I get my show aired. I still get my point across."