Tuesday, March 27, 2007
The biological mother of Angelina Jolie's newly adopted son, Pax Thien Jolie, has started making headlines less than a week after Jolie headed home with Pax, Maddox and Zahara in tow. London's News of the World has published an interview with the child's biological grandfather, who says his daughter will likely try to extort money from Angelina Jolie one she finds out her child was adopted by a Hollywood superstar.
Chien Dung, 55, spoke to the News of the World about his daughter, Pham Thu Dung, 29, who is Pax Thien's biological mom. Chien claims that his daughter abandoned her child just two days after she gave birth to him. As Chien tells the News of the World, "Our daughter is a heroin addict and she is a bag of trouble. Her life has been ruled by drugs since she was 16. She disappears for months on end. Then just when you think you will never see her again, she's back. But we only ever see her when she wants money."
That could be bad news for Angelina Jolie, who recently adopted Pham's child from an orphanage outside of Ho Chi Minh City. Chien fears that when his daughter, "finds out that a rich movie star has adopted her baby, she will go after Angelina Jolie for money and make trouble for her. She may even try to take the child back." As Pham Thu Dung did not sign the adoption papers that gave Angelina Jolie custody of newly-named Pax Thien Jolie, the legality of the adoption is in dispute. It was Chien, Pham's father, who signed the adoption papers giving Jolie custody of the child. As Pax's biological grandmother, Nhan Dung, said, "We are delighted he has gone to such a wonderful home."
However, Nhan added that, "But my daughter is very smart - and she is also very stubborn, wayward and difficult." As Chien Dung said of his own daughter, she "disappears for months on end. Then just when you think you will never see her again, she's back. But we only ever see her when she wants money." That may be exactly when Angelina Jolie receives a phone call from Pham, when the money becomes an issue. Pham is also likely to be an issue from Brad Pitt, who is expected to adopt Pax Thien Jolie as he has done with Angelina Jolie's two other adopted children: Maddox and Zahara.
Ironically, Pham Thu Dung was at her parents home the day the adoption agency came to see about the baby. However, rather than identifying herself as the child's mother, Pham chose anonymity in the situation instead. "She just sat in the corner, pretending to knit. She did not say a word and showed absolutely no emotion. She listened hard when the director told us her boy was going to have a good life, and that he was lucky he was going to live with this rich American woman. Then she disappeared. She was still hooked on drugs and we told her we had had enough. We have not seen her since that day."
Pham's sister, Trang, said in the interview that "After the orphanage man visited, Dung wanted to go to there to look for her son but she didn't know what he looked like. I persuaded her not to go." Ironically, Angelina Jolie has announced she will introduce Pax Thien Jolie to the world via a photo spread for People magazine, for which Pax and Angelina will earn roughly $2 million.