MADGE ADOPT TALE: NO, BABY!

New York Post

MADONNA was in a material whirl last night after the impoverished African nation of Malawi inexplicably announced to the world that the superstar had just adopted a 1-year-old boy there.

"It is completely inaccurate. She has not adopted," said her mystified spokeswoman, Liz Rosenberg.

Malawi officials made the startling announcement after Madonna visited orphanages there this week to help kick off a charity program to care for more than 1 million children, most of them orphaned by the AIDS epidemic that has ravaged parts of the continent. The bureaucrats proclaimed she had selected the baby from a lineup of 12 boys who were hand-picked for the 48-year-old Material Mom upon her arrival in the capital city of Lilongwe.

They said Madonna originally wanted to adopt a young girl, but like a suburban housewife having second thoughts about what color to paint her living room, changed her mind two weeks ago.

"She asked us to identify boys only, which we have done after visiting four orphanages in Lilongwe," said government spokeswoman Adrina Michiela. Authorities said they waived Malawi's ban on nonresidents adopting children to allow Madonna to become the legal parent of the boy.

Rosenberg said Madonna wasn't bothered by the bizarre hoax because the publicity over the false report will help draw attention to the horrifying devastation in Malawi, a landlocked country in southeastern Africa.

["It's] fine with her - even if it's information that's not correct," Rosenberg said. Madonna reportedly plans to spend at least $3 million on programs to support Malawian orphans and $1 million on a documentary about children in the desperate land.

As to whether Madonna might consider adopting an African child in the future to join her three other kids, Rosenberg added, "I have no idea."

One theory as to why the country made up the adoption story is that it was jealous over all the media attention Namibia got recently thanks to Angelina Jolie giving birth there to baby Shiloh.