Not only Zahara’s biological mother, Mentewab Dawit Lebiso, but her mother’s family, including her grandmother and aunt, also expressed their desire to contact their niece. At the same time, they also accused actress Angelina Jolie of intentionally adopting her children even though she knew they were not orphans.

Zahara was born on January 8, 2005 in Awassa, Ethiopia but is originally from Nigeria. When she was just 6 months old, she was adopted by Angelina Jolie. The girl was noticed by Angelina Jolie when the actress visited the Wide Horizons For Children orphanage in Ethiopia. Angelina wishes to protect and take care of this very small and weak child. She quickly went through the procedures to adopt Zahara and bring her back to America.

At that time, Angelina was just dating Brad Pitt and was a single mother of her adopted son Maddox from Cambodia. A year later, when Angelina and Brad completely announced their relationship, “Mr. Smith” filed to become the father of both Maddox and Zahara. The two children began to have the surname Jolie Pitt.

However, after less than 2 years, a woman claiming to be Zahara’s biological aunt spoke out to claim her niece, and criticized Angelina Jolie severely.

Accordingly, the adoption documents were published in In Touch Weekly magazine, clearly stating that Zahara has a grandmother and distant relatives who still live in Africa, but no one of her biological parents is left.

However, a person claiming to be the baby’s grandmother confirmed that the orphanage’s dispatch was untrue, and that the baby’s mother had never passed away. Mentewab Dawit Lebiso, the woman who claims to be Zahara’s biological mother, told In Touch: “I want my daughter to return home to know where she was born. Both my grandmother and I worked very hard to raise her. I really look forward to bringing him back to my family.” Zinash Haile Yenero, the aunt, was indignant that Jolie had not thoroughly researched the adoption documents and had not returned her nephew to her homeland.

However, faced with the above information, at that time close friends revealed that Angelina Jolie remained calm and said that the actress believed that Zahara was indeed an orphan and that the other person was the one who was mistaken.

It can be said that since receiving her niece, Zahara’s life has turned a new page. The baby is loved and protected by her adoptive mother, Angelina Jolie. In 2021, Angelina Jolie spoke out when her daughter was discriminated against during surgery.

Specifically, Angelina Jolie had an article published in Time magazine as a contributing editor. With this article, a rare Hollywood star expressed her personal views on life as a mother of 6 multi-ethnic children.

Accordingly, Angelina interviewed medical student Malone Mukwende about his initiative to close the gap in medical knowledge for people of color. Specifically, Mukwende is known for creating the “Mind the Gap” handbook, which compiles photos and information about various medical conditions on non-white skin tones, helping to solve the problem. The problem is that most medical books ignore how to recognize skin diseases on black and brown skin.

In her post, the “Maleficent” star expressed sympathy for this issue. She revealed she struggled to find medical advice for her children from different backgrounds. “I know when my children have rashes. They have distinctly different symptoms depending on their skin color. But whenever I look at medical charts, the reference point is always white skin,” she said.

She pointed out the reality in the American medical profession that most of the images and data used in teaching are based on studies from white patients. According to her, this can lead to wrong diagnosis, causing harm to the patient’s body.

Angelina became fully aware of this inadequacy when her adopted daughter Zahara was hospitalized for surgery in 2020. “My daughter, Zahara, whom I adopted from Ethiopia, had surgery. Afterwards, a nurse told me that Please notify them if her skin turns pink,” she said.

Angelina was not satisfied with the nurse’s treatment because Zahara was black, so recognizing changes in her skin was not easy.

Angelina Jolie’s shares in the article have caused quite a fierce debate in the online community. Many people believe that Zahara is racially discriminated against because the medical profession, which is meant to save lives, still has reprehensible shortcomings. Others expressed sympathy for the 48-year-old actress as she takes care of 6 children alone, each with different circumstances.

However, many people mocked Brat Pitt’s ex-wife for “making up stories”. According to them, Angelina is someone who has money and can afford to pay for the best medical services for her children, so something as ridiculous as she described could not happen. Someone pointed out that the Jolie-Pitt children are no longer infants, they are all 12 years old or older, and have no reason not to know when they feel unwell. Even a person who went to medical school affirmed that he had never heard about skin color discrimination when he was in the classroom. “Disease does not discriminate against skin color,” this person emphasized.