Madonna’s son, David Banda, is setting the record straight amid rumors that he’s homeless and scavenging for food.
Over-the-weekend, the 18-year-old aspiring singer took to his Instagram Stories where he addressed reports that he was struggling after moving out of his mother’s New York pad. “TO ALL OF THOSE CONCERNED,” Banda wrote, “My mother is very supportive of me. I am very happy and not living on the streets or starving!”
“Please stop worrying everything is good,” he added.
It’s worth noting that before his clarification post, Banda had addressed fans on Instagram Live the day before, delivering a reflective message that some interpreted as a cry for help, reports ET.
“It’s lovely to experience it being nine o’clock at night, me being hungry and realizing that I don’t have enough money to get food and scavenging. It’s fun to be young,” he said at the time.
“I love it. I’m not on my own, I’ve got my girlfriend,” he continued of his girlfriend, model Maria Atuesta.
David Banda is one of Madonna’s six kids. The pop icon’s family includes two biological children—Lourdes, 27, from ex Carlos Leon, and Rocco, 23, from ex-husband Guy Ritchie—and adopted four others. Madonna adopted Banda during a 2006 trip to Malawi, and later returned to adopt Mercy, 18, in 2009, and twins Stella and Estere, 11, in 2017.
“Every newspaper said I kidnapped him,” Madonna once told People about the backlash she faced after bringing Banda to her then-home in London. “In my mind, I was thinking, ‘Wait a minute. I’m trying to save somebody’s life. Why are you all s—-ing on me right now?’ I did everything by the book.”
She described it as a “low point,” revealing she would cry herself to sleep. Despite the challenges, Madonna said her adoption journey has been “complicated, but it’s so worth it.”