A New Addition To Angelina Jolie’s Family

By Kate | Permalink | No Comments | March 3rd, 2007 | Trackback

Angelina Jolie is reported to have filed papers to adopt a Vietnamese Child. Her family already consists of a five-year old son, adopted from Cambodia, a two-year old daughter, adopted from Ethiopia, and a biological daughter born to Jolie and Brad Pitt in May 2006.

I’ll admit that my first thought upon reading this was “Does this woman ever take a break?” Obviously she has plenty of money and help…but still. At Yahoo news, next to the article about her filing of papers in Vietnam, there is an article about which celebrity names have gone down in number of searches (searches for Angelina Jolie’s name have gone down by 11%). The adjacency of these two articles may be a not-so-subtle way of implying Jolie’s latest adoption is for publicity.

While I certainly agree that adopting a child for publicity is a bad move, I don’t think this is necessarily the case here (though I wouldn’t rule it out either). Taken too far, this argument would preclude nearly any celebrity work done for a cause…and part of what celebrities have to offer is their name and, well, their celebrity. Jolie perhaps takes it a step farther than other celebrities who donate money and attend fundraising dinners.

I wouldn’t feel I’d discussed the topic properly if I didn’t mention that there are many controversial issues surrounding international adoption, and some people tie this to the increased regulations for adoptions in China. I do have a personal connection to some people directly involved in this type of scenario, and given my personal experience of living abroad, especially in Bosnia, I see pros and cons to each side. I think it is important to take into account though that the topic at hand is extremely complex and each situation will have a number of factors unique to it, making generalizations dangerous. As a subject which can have long-ranging and very real implications for the lives of those involved, it is certainly a topic worth some thought but one not to be taken flippantly in discussion.

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