No Truth to Jolie's Adoption Scandal Rumors

How the Rumor Started

This rumor, like many others, began by what Mentwabe Dawit, Zahara's birth mother, claims was a complete twisting of her words. In an interview with In Touch magazine, Dawit is quoted as saying "I want my daughter to come home to see where she is from." Dawit later questioned the journalistic integrity of the magazine and went on record to say that this is simply not true and that she is both grateful and happy that her daughter was adopted by Jolie.

Other Report Rumors

There are other reports circulating that the Ethiopian government is investigating the adoption because the baby girl's records indicated that the birth mother had died, when in fact she had run away. Dawit stated that she had run away because she could no longer feed her daughter and had "…decided to flee rather than watch her die." She left her child in the care of her mother Almaz. When her mother could not locate Mentwabe and could no longer care for Zahara, she brought the baby to a "local official" who then took the baby to an Ethiopian orphanage.

Almaz firmly states that she told the official that her daughter was missing and not dead, but according to In Touch, Zahara's records indicate that the birth mother was dead and not missing -- thus leading to an investigation into the legality of the adoption.

Adoption Scandal?

Many tabloids are referring to Angelina Jolie's adoption as a scandal, as though she somehow circumvented Ethiopian adoption laws. Sure, in the past Angelina Jolie may have been scandalous in other areas of her life, like her penchant for sharing way too much information about her, ahem…relations with ex-husband Billy Bob Thornton, but never with her children.