Madonna happy to be ”guinea pig” in adoption case
American singer Madonna said on Thursday she was happy to be a “guinea pig” in a case she hopes could ease adoptions from Malawi, where an AIDS epidemic has orphaned more than 1 million children.
The term “Guinea pig” – the name of a rodent often called “cavy” – is used in English as a metaphor for a subject of experimentation.
Madonna, presenting a documentary on the plight of children in Malawi at the Cannes film festival, said the controversy around her adoptive son had been difficult to deal with but she was happy to be involved in a move that might allow more children to be adopted.
“Up until this time there wasn’t an adoption law, so consequently I’m sort of the template or the role model, so to speak, for future adoptions,” she told a news conference.
“Hopefully after we get through this adoption it will be easier for other people to adopt children and I’m happy to be the guinea pig,” she said.
Madonna’s film “I Am Because We Are” recounts the story behind her efforts to adopt David, a boy whose mother died in childbirth in Malawi, said she had tried to look at the controversy in a positive light.
“Yes it was painful and it was a big struggle and I didn’t understand it, but in the end I rationalized that when a woman has a child and goes through natural child birth she suffers an enormous amount,” she said.
“So I sort of went through my own kind of birthing pains dealing with the press on my front doorstep and accusing me of kidnapping or whatever you want to call it. In the end it made me stronger so I can’t complain.”
Source: Reuters via Yahoo! News.