TULIP
special
Actress and Humanitarian Angelina Jolie has mounted an impressive record of personal commitment, travel, financial contributions and resources on behalf of the millions of people being torn from their homes worldwide, in the face of war, conflict and oppression. She applied for adopting Maddox in 2002 when she had visited Cambodia for the shooting of Tomb Raider. In 2005, six month old Zahara too was taken in by Jolie. In the early 2006, Brad Pitt adopted both of them and in 2007, three year old Pax, who was abandoned at birth in Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam joined the Jolie-Pitt clan. When asked about her family, she acknowledges with pride that the love for her three biological kids is no more than that for her adopted ones. She is confident about her decision and has managed to outwit all the legal issues which seemed to come around. In fact people from Ethopia had claimed the parenthood of her daughter Zahara but that did not shake her off and they were anyways proved bogus. She and Pitt also apprised Madonna with legal issues when the 52 year old Hollywood heartthrob went into trouble during the adoption of one year old David Banda of Malawi. The court raised doubts in the process of adoption as the child’s father was alive, but too poor to keep him. In 2009, she decided to adopt yet another Malawian baby girl, Mercy James and again landed into trouble when Mercy’s 24 year old biological father who had abandoned her 15 year old deceased mother in fear of disgrace, claimed that he wanted to be a part of his daughter’s life. Despite being a mother of two children, Madonna was adamant to have both the adoptions legalized. All our favourite celebrities have all in all more reasons than just being enrapturing on screen, to be respected about. Hugh Jackman, Liz Taylor, Meg Ryan, Ewan Mcgregor, Sheryl Crow, Sandra Bullock and Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman are some of the renowned, queuing up the long list. For those who take the celebrity altruism sceptically, they must know that the adoption spree is not any new Hollywood trend. The late actress Elizabeth Taylor was a mother of three healthy children when she adopted two year old Maria of Germany in 1964. Actress, singer and author, Julie Andrews adopted two orphaned Vietnamese girls, Amy and Joanna, with husband Blake Edwards in 1974. The kids were victims of the Vietnam War who were brought to the United States for medical attention. The moment the couple laid their eyes on the little ones, they said they were enchanted. Despite their busy schedule, they make sure to spend as much time as they can, with their children. After all, Julie Andrews got it right, ‘Children are children, no matter what their background is’. And of course, love is love, it can only be shared. But the most hexing story is that of Mia Farrow’s adoption chronicles. The actress, Humanitarian and singer has altogether 15 children, out of which 11 are adopted. And she had had five of them when she was a single mother. She is an exemplar for many who have the pas-
44 JUNE, 2011
sion to do something for the society, the greatest contribution of being capable of sharing love, tender touch and quintessential care. These celebrities whose work is worldly applauded tell us that they do not take the responsibility of another life because they have conception problems or they don’t want to go through the phase of pregnancy. These decisions come from the cognitive processes of thinking and not any random whims. They take this big step because if they have the potentiality, both on the financial and emotional backdrop, then why not conjure up a life that has been forsaken and left in the lurch… And it is not just celeb couples we are talking about. Angelina Jolie has adopted Maddox and Zahara as a single mother and so did Meg Ryan in 2006. Singer Sheryl Crow also embraced Wyatt in 2007 and Levi James in 2010 as a single parent. Following her was Sandra Bullock who brought Louis home in 2010, but before the adoption process was over she had already divorced Jesse James and now says that, ‘Louis is the only man in her life’. But when it comes to the talk on single mothers, there is an exquisite Indian celeb who deserves more than just mention. In 2000, when Sushmita Sen was 24 year old, she brought Renee home. Now that has mellifluous story behind it. She had decided on the name