Screen star Angelina Jolie says she is sorry her adoption of a Vietnamese boy has thrown him into the global spotlight but on Friday managed to stay a step ahead of the media crowd.
Jolie evaded photographers camped outside her Ho Chi Minh City hotel while, a report said, a representative obtained a Vietnamese passport for the three-year-old boy, whom she picked up from an orphanage the previous day.
An immigration official said Vietnamese formalities had now been completed for Pham Quang Sang, born November 29, 2003 in a local hospital, where he was abandoned by his mother, the VNExpress online daily reported.
The Hollywood star said she would rename the boy Pax Thien, combining the Latin word for peace and the Vietnamese word for heaven.
Jolie was expected to travel soon to the capital Hanoi to complete US adoption formalities for the fourth child she is raising with her partner and fellow screen idol Brad Pitt.
In an interview with the local Phap Luat newspaper, Jolie said she was not working on any movie at the moment and hoped to spend time with the fast-growing family she was forming with Pitt.
Pax will join what the couple have called their "rainbow family", with five-year-old son Maddox, adopted from Cambodia, two-year-old daughter Zahara, from Ethiopia, and biological daughter Shiloh, born last May in Namibia.
"I will stay at home to help Pax integrate into his new life," Jolie was quoted as saying by the Vietnamese-language newspaper.
"I have four children, and caring for them is the most important thing for me right now. I am proud and happy to be their mother."
But Jolie, who has travelled with bodyguards in Vietnam's largest city, behind obscured car windows to avoid being photographed, said she worried about the intense media exposure the child would receive.
"Pax is only three years old and he (has) spent his childhood in the orphanage," said the actress. "I want to say sorry for bringing this into Pax's life."
Jolie, 31, Maddox and Pax were pursued Thursday by the media as she took the boy from the orphanage to the adoption ceremony at the Ho Chi Minh City justice department.
Jolie said Pax speaks no English and that "we have to learn to adapt to each other and study each other's languages".
"We will also pay regular visits to your country. To the best of my ability I want to understand more about your country, to see what I can do to help," added Jolie, a goodwill ambassador for the UN refugee agency.
The Academy Award-winning actress said she had wanted to adopt children since she was young because they "always need a warm shelter and a family".
"I have the ability to realise their wish, so why not?" she said.
Jolie, who owns a house in neighbouring Cambodia, where she shot the movie Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, also said she "feels at home" in Southeast Asia.
"During this trip I want to visit Hanoi and hope to get a chance to take my children to the sea," she told the newspaper.
"Many people have told me that Vietnam has beautiful coasts."
On Thursday, Jolie and the two children managed to relax at the swimming pool of a villa in Ho Chi Minh City's An Phu district, said VnExpress.
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