Details surrounding the adoption of Maddox, the son of Angelina Jolie, will be explored in an upcoming documentary about stolen babies in Cambodia. Filmmaker Elizabeth Jacobs will delve deep into the operations of Lauryn Galindo, who was said to have helped the Hollywood actress and ex-wife of Brad Pitt with the adoption nearly two decades ago.
According to reports, Galindo was sent to federal prison for 18 months in 2004 after admitting to her guilt on visa fraud, falsifying documents for orphans, and money laundering. However, she has denied and has yet to be tried for allegedly fooling low-income families into selling their babies for adoption.
Galindo and her baby recruiters, who were active in the adoption process in Cambodia from 1997 to 2002, have piqued the interest of Jacobs, who plans on releasing "The Stolen Children." The director, who is 21 years old, was also adopted around the same time as Maddox, now 19 years old.
Maddox's Adoption Story
Jolie adopted Maddox, who was born in Cambodia in 2002. At that time, questions were raised on whether or not the superstar adopted her son in a local orphanage or was bought for $100,000 from his birth mother through Galindo's network.
Maddox's adoption came under scrutiny with the human rights agency under Kek Galibru, the director of Licadho. He believed that Maddox was not an orphan and was not abandoned by his parents.
Jolie, who was then married to Billy Bob Thorton, released a statement to counter the allegations stating that she would "never rob a mother of her child." She reiterated that she did her due diligence before adopting her first child. She denied knowing about Galindo's illegal network.
Nearly two decades later, Galindo is once again shedding light on the truth about Maddox's adoption story and told The Sun that there was no wrongdoing. She said that Jolie was cautious about adopting Maddox since she knew she would be scrutinized as a celebrity parent.
Galindo also said that the actress was not in Cambodia when the human rights investigations took place. Jolie had no way of interfering with Maddox's alleged birth parents, and Galindo also said she was never part of the investigations.
Angelina Should Probe More
However, Jacobs still believes that Jolie should do her own probing for the sake of Maddox. Jacobs has plans to visit Cambodia to finish her documentary and learn more about her adoption process.
The director found out that Galindo was involved in her adoption after reviewing her documents with her adoptive parents, Karen and Erich Jacobs. Galindo's name is on some of the pages of the papers. Karen recalled that she was told her adopted daughter's biological parents perished in a flood, but she has no other information about the director's birth parents.
In 2020, Jolie told Vogue that she believed her children must "never lose touch" of their origin and be in touch with their roots. A few years ago, Jolie and Maddox returned to Cambodia together to work on their own documentary about the country's political history.
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