Madonna denies Pitt-Jolie hand behind adoption

Popstar Madonna has batted aside claims that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie had had any influence on her decision to adopt, saying that she' had never even met the actress.

Reports had earlier claimed that the Material girl was persuaded by the Hollywood couple to adopt a child from Africa, rather than one from the US. It said that Madonna and her husband Guy Ritchie, were on the verge of adopting a US baby just three months back, but abandoned plans after being advised by Jolie to choose a Third World infant instead.

"I've never had any discussions with Brad or Angelina about adoption I've never actually met Angelina Jolie," Contactmusic quoted her as saying on the Oprah Winfrey Show.

“My husband is good friends with Brad because they've worked together, and we had dinner with Brad after Angelina had adopted her baby from Ethiopia but we never had a discussion about it. I never sought their advice and I never considered adopting a child from Los Angeles, nor did I discuss with anyone but my husband and our social worker, who did the home study, exactly where it is we would like to adopt the child from," she added.

However, she mentioned that it was a meeting with Live Aid and Live 8 organizer Sir Bob Geldof that prompted her to think about adopting a child from Africa

"That (performance at Live 8) kind of made me turn my focus to Africa in a more specific way and educate myself about the statistics about what's going on all over Africa," she added. (ANI)