Madonna and Angelina and Exotic Pets

I was in a pet shop the other day when I thought about Madonna and Angelina Jolie. Then I thought about Oprah and Mia Farrow.

Celebrity adoptions are nothing new. Actresses have been doing it for years in order to enjoy the bliss and warmth of motherhood without sacrificing their waistlines. Betty Davis and Joan Crawford both adopted. Bob Hope adopted four children, but I don't think it was for the benefit of his waistline, nor do I imagine that Rosie O'Donnell was thinking about hers. Or Walt Disney.

At one time celebrities were more discreet about their adoptions. But in the sixties it became a political statement. Luminaries like Andre Previn and Mia Farrow and Julie Andrews and Blake Edwards, Yul Brenner, adopted refugees from the Vietnam war. It was fashionable.

But nowadays it seems that good old domestic orphans are not good enough. The upwardly mobile and socially conscious celebrity wants an exotic child for a pet, one from a place you've never heard of but is torn by war and steeped in poverty and disease. It's ever so much more romantic than adopting from the local animal shelter.

Mia Farrow adopted 10 children from developing countries. One ended up on Woody's woody. Meg Ryan brought home a girl from China. Ewan (Obi Wan) McGregor and his wife went clear to Outer Mongolia to choose their daughter. Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise, Michelle Pfeiffer, producer Steven Spielburg and his wife Kate Capshaw all have adopted outside their own races and nationalities. It's the in thing. Call it Noblesse Oblige. If you have more money than god, then you are expected to share some of it with the needy and downtrodden. And little large eyed, starving children are so cute and photogenic. They come in handy when you have a movie or a concert tour to promote.