White Lady Adopted Black Girl 17 Years Ago, This is What Happened Next

“When a baby named Zahara was adopted by Hollywood star Angelina Jolie, she had no idea how much her life was going to change. Today, we’re going to dive into what she looks like now.

Located in the Horn of Africa, Ethiopia is one of the poorest countries in the world. Living in the country means that you’re in for a hard life, and unfortunately, in many cases, it will not be a very happy one either. Children are forced to work from a very young age in order to provide for their families. Through their work, they can earn a meager amount, just enough to pay their way. If they’re not working, the children of Ethiopia often become orphaned. In fact, there are over 4 million orphaned children living on the streets.

One of the children that was abandoned on the streets was a six-month-old baby girl named Zahara. She was found and taken to an orphanage. Though she was painfully thin and emaciated from the lack of food and proper drinking water, she truly was in a terrible state. If no one had helped her, then she would surely have died.

Though her survival wasn’t necessarily a good thing either, as she would have to work fields and collect sugarcane for the rest of her days. But only a few months after the infant was taken into the orphanage, something happened that changed her life forever. Hollywood superstar Angelina Jolie and her then-husband Brad Pitt decided to adopt little Zahara.

At the time, Angelina Jolie had no biological children of her own, though she had already adopted a three-year-old boy named Maddox from an orphanage in Cambodia. The actress was very actively involved in helping to raise money for various charities and good causes and had traveled to various different countries to help out children. When she traveled to Ethiopia and first laid eyes on Zahara, the child fascinated the starlet. It was reported that her mother had died only days after giving birth, and her father was unknown, possibly even being the one to abandon her on the streets.

The only real family that Zahara had was a grandmother that lived in the scorched village of Awasa. She and her three daughters lived in a one-room shack with no electricity or running water. The grandmother was too frail and in no financial position to be able to look after Zahara. That’s part of the reason why the baby ended up in the orphanage. But she did ask the orphanage to pass on a message to Angelina Jolie. The message was simple: ‘All I ask is that one day Miss Angelina could send me a picture of my granddaughter so I can remember her and those beautiful big brown eyes. They’re just like my daughter’s eyes.’

Immediately after her adoption, Zahara traveled to the United States with Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. She had her own room in a luxury Hollywood mansion and wanted for nothing. Over the years, as she grew up, Zahara was living a truly happy and fulfilled life. But it wasn’t happiness based on the money and fame that she now had; it was happiness based on family, love, and acceptance. She was part of something special.

Before long, Brad Pitt became Zahara’s real adoptive dad, and she received a double-barrel surname, Jolie-Pitt. Both her mother and her father really loved her, and they accepted her as part of their family as if she was their own. But despite what many people might think, life wasn’t perfect for Zahara because she was the daughter of the two most highly profiled and famous people in all of Hollywood. There were constantly paparazzi following her and taking photos of her, trying to dig up some new kind of story for the tabloid press. And when the reporters couldn’t find the story, they would simply make them up.

One such fabricated story was that Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were wanting to return Zahara back to Ethiopia and that they were taking advantage of the girl due to the extreme poverty of her home nation and family. This couldn’t have been further from the truth, but that didn’t matter to the press. They never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

These kinds of stories were hurtful to not only Zahara but also Angelina and Brad. But reporters did find one interesting fact out: though Zahara’s real mother was alive. She told her story, saying that she had become pregnant against her will when a man forced himself upon her.

When he attacked her, she was powerless to resist. When she gave birth, she abandoned Zahara, as having a child in such a way was seen as taboo in Ethiopia. She had no choice. If she didn’t want to be shunned or cast out by her friends and family, the woman would be seen as a disgrace, and the criminal who forced himself on her would have gotten away with it. So the best course of action was for her to get rid of Zahara and keep quiet about the whole thing.

Speaking about her daughter, Zahara’s mother said, ‘I’ve never disputed the adoption of my baby by Angelina Jolie. I think my daughter is a very fortunate human being to be adopted by a world-famous lady. I wish them both all the success they deserve.’ It was clear that she holds no ill will towards Angelina or her daughter, and she once again disappeared into obscurity.

As the years passed, Angelina Jolie adopted another child as well as giving birth to three of her own. That meant that Zahara was one of six children—four boys and two girls. They all got on fantastically well, and their family unit was a strong and loving one. Despite their physical differences, all of the children got on as if they were biological brothers and sisters.

But when Zahara was 12 years old, her biological mother once again reared her head, asking to see and talk to her daughter. Unfortunately, Zahara didn’t see her as a mother at all. Yes, she might have given birth to her, but it wasn’t Angelina that had raised her and brought her up into the strong and beautiful woman that she was.

Still, one of the core things that Angelina instilled into all of her children was compassion and empathy—to be able to put yourself into other people’s shoes and feel what other people are feeling. That’s why Zahara finally caved and agreed to travel to Ethiopia, but it wasn’t to meet her biological mother.

Angelina had tried to stay back and out of the situation as much as she could, but she put her foot down when it came to Zahara’s biological mother wanting to worm her way back into her daughter’s life. Neither Angelina nor Zahara could be sure of her intentions, and neither of them knew if she wanted to make honest amends or whether she was capitalizing on the fame and fortune of her biological daughter.

On the trip, Zahara had the opportunity to meet with Ethiopia’s first-ever female president, discussing the country’s culture and history, as well as some of the pitfalls. Zahara was in a unique position where she might be able to make a real change in the country, all thanks to being adopted by the Hollywood A-listers.

Nowadays, Zahara is one of the most unremarkable people in Hollywood, and that’s not a bad thing. She hasn’t been at the center of any scandal; she hasn’t gotten into any trouble or been picked up by the police. She hasn’t drawn any negative attention to her at all. She truly did keep things as low-key as possible.

She still keeps busy, though, creating and managing her own line of jewelry, as well as doing some voice acting in several big-budget movies. And on top of all that, Zahara has become a beautiful and classy woman who finds time to help her mother with her social and outreach work, assisting charities and foundations in any way that she can.

But her work doesn’t even end there, as Zahara is also studying at the prestigious Spelman College in Atlanta. It’s no wonder that Angelina is so proud of her beautiful adopted daughter; any mother would be.

Of course, people still criticize Angelina Jolie for adopting a child from Ethiopia, but you only have to look at how much Zahara’s life has been improved to understand that it was the best thing that could have ever happened to her.

So now it’s over to you. What did you think of this incredible and moving story? Would you have had the kindness of heart to adopt Zahara if you were able? And how would you have felt if you were in Zahara’s position, going from a life of extreme poverty to one of luxury? As always, we’d love to hear from you, so be sure to leave your thoughts and opinions in the comments section down below. See you next time.”