PARIS - Angelina Jolie says she was horrified by attacks on Madonna about her adoption of a toddler from Malawi, but suggested the pop singer took a risk because of the African country's adoption laws, a French magazine reported.

"Madonna knew the situation in Malawi, where he was born," Jolie was quoted as saying in this week's edition of Gala, a gossip magazine. "In that country, there isn't really a legal framework for adopting. Personally, I prefer to stay on the side of the law."

Jolie and actor Brad Pitt have three children: Maddox, adopted from Cambodia; Zahara, adopted from Ethiopia; and another daughter, Shiloh, who was born to the couple in May.

Madonna and her filmmaker husband Guy Ritchie are adopting a one-year-old Malawian boy, David Banda. He joined her two children, Lourdes and Rocco, in Britain in October.

Human rights groups in Malawi have said they are concerned the government cut legal corners to fast-track the adoption and that they want adoption laws there clarified. A November court ruling allowed a coalition of rights groups to monitor the process.