Hugh Jackman: You don’t adopt for publicity; Madonna’s coming from a good place

The Sun

HUGH JACKMAN has sent a message of support to Madonna after her failed bid to adopt a Malawian orphan.

The Aussie movie star and his wife, DEBORRA-LEE, have two kids who they adopted as babies from America — Oscar, eight, and three-year-old Ava.

But, like MADONNA, their hopes of giving a home to a Third World child were crushed by rules that made it virtually impossible to adopt from Africa or Asia.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Hugh — who hit cinema screens this week as razor-clawed X-Men character Wolverine — said: “The adoption laws in Australia are too restrictive. Of course, checks need to be made. But they had a very negative approach.

“It was like they were trying to discourage you. There are 130million orphans in the world — who is looking after them? If you are a citizen of the world, on some level they are all our responsibility.

“And if you have got parents who want to adopt and there are children who need a home, it seems like a no-brainer.

“There are not that many children in Australia who need adopting, so we looked internationally and that is what is difficult.”

The couple turned to adoption after actress Deborra-Lee, 48, suffered repeat miscarriages.

But they insist they would have done it regardless.

Hugh, 40, said: “We tried and it just didn’t happen for us. There was no particular medical reason.

“We had a few miscarriages, which was very upsetting. But we always planned on adopting anyway, even if we had our own biological children.”

The actor can well understand Madonna’s desire to add to her brood — Lourdes, 12, Rocco, eight, and three-year-old David Banda, who she adopted from Malawi in 2006.

And he is sickened by cynics who applauded an African judge’s decision to reject her bid to become mum to baby girl Mercy James earlier this month.

Hugh said: “I challenge anyone who thinks you adopt a kid for a publicity stunt. Anyone parent knows that would have to be the most intensive publicity stunt in the world. I am sure she is coming from a good place.”

However, unlike the pop queen, Hugh has no plans to expand his family.

Laughing, he continued: “We think about another adoption. Then every time we get on a plane with our two kids and are all crammed in together, we think maybe we will leave it at what we have.

“Our first child was not the easiest of babies, which is why we left it five years before the second. Our second was a dream baby.”