Maddox Jolie-Pitt Not Actually An Orphan When Angelina Jolie Adopted Him?

Angelina Jolie is the mother of six children, three of whom were adopted. Her eldest son Maddox Jolie-Pitt may not have been an orphan when Jolie legally took custody of him. Gossip Cop has the story.

A History Lesson

Jolie adopted Maddox in 2002 from Cambodia. Jolie said in a statement at the time that she and then-husband Billy Bob Thornton “visited an orphanage in Cambodia and met a little boy we felt a connection to and that we wanted to be our son.” The couple had to wait a while because the United States had legally blocked all adoptions from the region over allegations of baby selling.

As soon as the ban was lifted, Jolie and Thornton were able to adopt their son. They did so legally, and it’s important to stress that Jolie had no knowledge of anything illegal going on.

What Was Going On?

Kidnapping was already a known problem when Jolie adopted Maddox. Under two years after the process, Lauren Galindo was arrested for her part in providing 700 Cambodian children up for adoption, many of them stolen from their parents. Jolie was one of her clients, although officials didn’t think there was anything fraudulent in her case, then or now.

Earlier today, another figure in Maddox’s adoption expressed doubt. Sarath Mounh ran an NHO in Cambodia and helped sign legal documents in Jolie’s case. He now tells the Daily Mail, “I’m not 100% sure that Maddox was an orphan. At least one of the parents was possibly alive at the time of his adoption. I never asked these difficult questions, nobody did.”

Mounh agrees that there’s no suggestion that Jolie was aware of any fraud or kidnapping. This is consistent with what Jolie has said for decades. Jolie has said: “’I would never rob a mother of her child. I can only imagine how dreadful that would feel.”

No Real Way Of Knowing

Gossip Cop believes the story ends here. The tragic conditions in Cambodia around the new millennium mean it would be all but impossible to track down where one child at an orphanage originally came from. Even someone with the means of Jolie likely could never find out for sure how Maddox got there. From everyone involved, including government officials and those profiting off the adoption, nobody is saying that Jolie had any knowledge of any crimes. Maddox was cosmically lucky to meet his mother when he did, and their close-knit family is happy and healthy to this day.