'Malawi adoption struggle as painful as natural childbirth', says Madge

London, May 23 : Madonna has poured her heart out about her "painful" struggle to adopt Malawian child David Banda - comparing it with the suffering women go through in natural childbirth.

The 49-year-old pop superstar talked openly about her and husband Guy Ritchie's controversial battle to adopt the two-year-old at a press conference about her new documentary 'I Am Because We Are' - which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival on May 21.

"It was painful and a big struggle and I didn't understand it. In the end I rationalized that when a woman goes through natural childbirth, she suffers an enormous amount," The Sun quoted her, as saying.

"I went through my own kind of birthing pains - dealing with the press on my doorstep, accusing me of kidnapping or whatever.

"But I had to go through some kind of process and in the end it made me stronger so I can't complain," she added.

Madonna also hit back at accusations that David was adopted without his father's consent - and that his mother had not really died of Aids.

She said: "Yes his mother did die of AIDS and yes, I met his father and he absolutely agreed to the adoption.

"There is nothing controversial about the adoption. It is just there's a lot of bureaucracy and administration. This adoption essentially was the beginning of the creation of adoption laws in Malawi."

She said she now sees herself as the role model for future adoptions there.

ANI