Amanda,

Regarding your comment: “And for future reference, neither Angelina nor Brad have ever mentioned Shiloh being part Native American or part French. Never, so I don’t know where you got that information from.”

Well, I got that information from Annoyomus’s and Nausicaa’s comments above, which (and I quote) “you quite obviously didn’t read.”

Anyway, I will concede defeat here since I am outnumbered, but I appreciate the support from those of you who were willing to hear (and sometimes agree with) different opinions.

I saw the interview on CNN and I printed out and read the transcript. Much of the above arguments are specious, IMO. Brad was emphasizing how much he cares about all his children. Did anyone notice how completely he identified with Bob Considine’s comment, “I have four children. Two are adopted. I forget which two.”?

I thought Brad did a very good job of deflecting Kings attempt to insinuate the controversy generated by the tabloids around Z’s adoption into the interview. He was obviously trying to see how Brad was reacting to the tabloid stories. Brad fended him off very neatly when he said the minute Z’s name was mentioned, “This is where I get personal about my kids.” End of discussion.

But I couldn’t help grinning when he said Z is an “absolute delight”. I know parents try hard not to have favorites, but if Brad has a favorite, Z is it.

No, Laurie. I’m afraid I don’t ‘get your drift’. Not at all in fact and I doubt I ever will.

It seems to me that while people continuously question Brad and Angelina’s feelings towards their children, it’s the general public who appear to have the issues with them. I don’t know if it’s a race thing or whether it’s because 3 of their children are adopted but people constantly try and seperate them into 2 groups; the biological child and the adopted children.

And then, when Brad clearly says on national television that DESPITE their physical differences and the fact they all came from different countries they are BROTHERS AND SISTERS, people try and tear him down over it.

And personally, Laurie, I don’t think you were exaggerating. Like someone earlier said, your ’subtle criticism’ just exploded into one post. You’ve made your feelings pretty clear.

It’s not about making a (and I quote) ‘boring white kid’ ‘cool’ like her siblings. What’s cool about being abandoned at birth like Pax and Maddox were? What’s cool about being close to death like Zahara was? There’s nothing ‘cool’ about it.

Namibia is a country very dear to Angelina’s heart. I mentioned this in my first post which you quite obviously didn’t read. Moreover, they were the only country in the world to offer them the privacy and peace they wanted to bring their child into the world. There’s nothing wrong with that. So what if she didn’t want to give birth in America. It’s nobody’s business but theirs.

And for future reference, neither Angelina nor Brad have ever mentioned Shiloh being part Native American or part French. Never, so I don’t know where you got that information from.

Laurie, you seem to have a real problem with the fact that Shiloh was not born in the states. Angelina gave birth to her in Namibia not so she wouldn’t be some “boring white child”, but because the country and the continent of Africa means a lot to her. What is wrong with that?

A healthy child was born to a family that loves and cares about her. Whether she was born in Namibia, the US or on Mars should make no difference to ANY of us.

Believing that their parenting decisions, including where their children are born has nothing do with anyone thinking these two parents can do no wrong. In fact, that doesn’t even come into the equation. Sorry if you don’t understand that.

actually it seems closer to the opposite. kinda like, “oh, we have these cool kids from foreign countries & now we’re gonna have this boring white kid, so we can’t just have her in America. no, that would not be international enough, so let’s go have her in Namibia so she can be almost as cool as the other kids and mention it all the time, along with her ‘French-ness’ and her ‘Native-American-ness’ so she won’t be this boring white child.”

of course i am exaggerating for the sake of the point, but you get my drift. and i never said they can do no right, but even people who do a whole lot of right (like Angelina and Brad) still do (and say) some things wrong every now and then.

Laurie, I had the same thought when I read this post.

It’s not meant as a criticism of what Brad Pitt said – obviously the meaning behind his statement is a positive one – but Shiloh being born in Namibia is different from her siblings being truly born *of* the cultures in the countries where they were born, of birth parents with an ancestry there, individuals who sadly couldn’t take care of their babies themselves. They also lived in these countries from several months to several years before their lives as Jolie-Pitts began. I’d imagine this will have more impact on their identities as they grow older than will the fact that Shiloh’s birth was planned in a certain country.

It’s clear that Shiloh’s birth in Namibia was very meaningful to the family, as others here have pointed out. But to suggest that it is similar to the way that the other kids are “from” different countries is, to me, a little disingenuous.

On the other hand, I can also see how it’s a way of showing all the kids they are valued, and creating a special connection between them.

Thank you Meela!

Pardon me Sil!

It wasn’t so much that people were fighting but they ranted and raved about a simply little statement expressed by a man who clearly has found some happiness in life. How can you fault someone whose face lights up at the mention of his family? I stopped reading after the 6th post because it just started to get really ridiculous. There are people who will never like this couple so they will always pick them apart and I find it to be cowardly to post things that one would never say to someone in person.

Amanda- I couldn’t have said it better myself! I do not understand why Angelina and Brad are criticized for just about everything they do. The only ever celeb parents I have seen criticized as much as they are are Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes (mostly right after Suri was born. I will admitt that they aren’t criticized nearly as much these days) and Britney Spears.

I also agree with the Nora about the fact that the tabloids seem to consider only Shiloh to be their “real” child (they never forget to refer to Mad, Z, and Pax as the “adopted children”).

I have also noticed that some of the tabs still seem to refer to Mad, Z, and sometimes even Pax as “Angelina’s adopted children.” Case in point: When In Touch published the “Z Adoption story” that Nora mentioned, the headlines on the front cover included: “Angelina’s worst nightmare! Will she lose her child?” Also, Brad wasn’t mentioned even once in the story! They made it sound as if Z is not really Brad’s daughter! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t even believe In Touch’s story for a minute. However, they could have at least said, “Brad and Angie’s worst nightmare! Will they lose their child?”

Why is it that the tabs can’t except the fact that Mad and Z are Brad’s kids as well as Angie’s?

For all of the above reasons and more, I am actually glad that Brad and Angie make a point of mentioning the different countries that their children came from. Hopefully, hearing about how Mad, Z, Pax, and Shi are just like any other brothers and sisters despite being from different countries will help people to realize that:

1. They are ALL Brad AND Angie’s children.

2. They are ALL Brad and Angie’s “real” children”.

and

3. Brad and Angie love all four of their kids equally (despite what the tabs have said about Angie not loving Shi as much as her siblings).

All of that said, I also want to respond to Laurie’s comment that it “would have been okay to have Shiloh in America”:

Besides the fact that Namibia is a place they love (Brad has mentioned that in interviews, and it is also pretty obvious from all of the connections they, and Angie in particular, have to Namibia), there is another very good reason that they chose to have Shiloh in Namibia….

So that they could have Shiloh in peace and have their privacy during the birth and newborn period, without the crazy paps going crazy trying to get the first pictures of Shiloh. Brad has even said straight out (in the same interview where he mentioned the fact they Namibia is a place they love) that one of the reasons they chose to have Shi in Namibia was to escape the paps.

I can’t believe that a couple of sentences about his children has evoked such a *debate*…Why must people always pick, pick, pick?

It seems that no matter how he phrased what he said, it would have been criticized, analyzed and picked over.

More than likely, if he had referred to Shiloh as “being America” it would have sparked outrage and he would have been accused of viewing his biological child differently.

As it’s been said before, they really can’t win!