Queen Latifah a mom? Star says she may adopt a child.
Could Queen Latifah soon be a mom? That鈥檚 what the actress and rapper said to Barbara Walters on ABC鈥檚 鈥�The View鈥� yesterday, saying she was 鈥渢otally serious鈥� about adopting a child.
鈥淚 think I saw one of those specials... you know those movies of the week. And it was like 鈥� and I just always wanted to bring a child home,鈥� she said.
When Walters pressed, asking Queen Latifah if she was really serious about adoption, the actress said yes, and that she was 鈥渁ctually kind of working on that.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檓 totally serious,鈥� she said. And then, because it鈥檚 Queen Latifah: 鈥渟o if you got a kid that you don鈥檛...聽 just give me a year 鈥� let me set up camp and then send me the kid.鈥�
(She鈥檚 got a lot on her plate 鈥� she鈥檚 set to star in a television movie version of Steel Magnolias next year.)
But she said again that she was really serious about adopting.
She would be in good company.
The celebrity world is filled with star-studded adoptions. There鈥檚 the Jolie-Pitt clan, of course, with kids hailing from Cambodia, Ethiopia and Vietnam. Katherine Heigl and husband Josh Kelley adopted a daughter from South Korea. And Madonna, who fought to adopt daughter Mercy James from Malawi.
Latifah wouldn鈥檛 even raise eyebrows as a single celebrity mom adopting. Think Charlize Theron and Sandra Bullock.
But as the Monitor has reported, adoption is far more than a celebrity trend 鈥� it鈥檚 an American phenomenon. In 2010, there were 52,891 domestic adoptions reported through public agencies in the US, and 11,058 international adoptions, according to the State Department. In 2002, the National Survey of Family Growth estimated that 18.5 million American women ages 18-44 had considered adoption.
As Modern Parenthood editor Clara Germani wrote recently, in her introduction to the heartwarming 鈥� and, we鈥檝e discovered, controversial 鈥� series about a Monitor editor and his family鈥檚 journey to China to adopt their second daughter, most of these adoptions go right.
Adoption, then, is a beautiful American story 鈥� one of parental love, of families morphing into new and enduring shapes, of bonding that goes beyond DNA and bureaucratic regulations.
鈥淚鈥檓 here to tell you it鈥檚 the antidote to the adoption angst that media and popular psychology seem to focus on, such as infertility grief, bureaucratic tangles, and the uncertainties of timing,鈥� Germani wrote.
We hope you鈥檒l check out Gretchen Belsie鈥檚 dispatches. She and husband Laurent, the Monitor鈥檚 business editor, are back in China with their first adopted daughter, Grace. They have been waiting five years to adopt their second daughter, Madeleine, who is now 7.聽 Already the series has led to smiles, tears and an intense debate among our readers.聽聽
Meanwhile, we鈥檒l just have to wait for Queen Latifah鈥檚 next move.
