Madonna has been dealt a devastating blow in her bid to adopt Malawian orphan Mercy James — the child’s father wants full custody of his little girl.
The hitmaker wanted to become mom to the 3-year-old but her request for an interim adoption was turned down by a court in the country’s capital, Lilongwe, earlier this month.
Madonna appealed the decision and an African court hearing is scheduled for Monday.
But the singer’s hopes of the ruling being overturned could be dashed — Mercy’s biological father James Kambewa has now launched a bid to get his daughter back.
And he’s hit out at the 50-year-old, branding her “scandalous” and calling her failed marriage to Guy Ritchie and subsequent relationship with boy-toy lover Jesus Luz, 22, an indication of a lack of “good morals.”
Kambewa tells Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper, “She is my daughter; she is my blood; she needs parental love. She is not an orphan. She lost one parent, yes, but I am still alive and so she is not an orphan.
“Madonna has millions of dollars but that doesn’t make her a good mum. Parental love is more than money. Besides, I don’t think Madonna is a model mum. I have seen her in movies of her songs. She doesn’t portray good morals. How can a woman of 50 dance almost naked on stage? I wouldn’t want my daughter to grow up like that! In Malawi women respect themselves. Cultured women do not go about half-naked.
“I also heard after her marriage failed she is already seeing two men, both very younger than her and her ex-husband. I hear one of them is even less than half her age. That’s scandalous. How can a normal woman fall for a boy who can as well be her son? No, spare my Mercy that scandal.”
Kambewa has enlisted the help of the Human Rights Consultative Committee to acquire a lawyer to fight his corner.
In a letter to the organization, he writes, “I have learnt that an American-musician called Madonna has applied to a court for the adoption of the kid, to which the grandmother has consented. However, I do not consent to the adoption because I feel I am capable of raising the child.”
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