The grandmother of Madonna's adopted daughter Mercy has revealed that she never wanted to give the little girl up.
Lucy Chekechiwa, who delivered Mercy when she was born, said she was persuaded to by the men in her village.
She declared: "I still love Mercy, she is my dearest."
Madonna was given the go ahead to adopt the Malawian child following an appeal.
Lucy said that Mercy was given to an orphanage after her mother died from childbirth complications.
She said: "The initial agreement was that Mercy was to be kept in the orphanage for six years. After six years, Mercy was supposed to be brought back here and then I would have taken care of her.
"At first I didn't want her to go. But as a family we had to sit down and reach an agreement and we agreed that Mercy should go. The men insisted that Mercy be adopted and I won't resist anymore. I still love Mercy, she's my dearest."
It was Mercy's uncle Peter who signed the adoption papers. He said he did it not only to give Mercy a better life but the whole village.
He said: "Initially we thought may be it's not a good idea but then if you consider a lot of factors we thought this is an opportune time for Mercy to go. We believe that if Mercy can be adopted by someone with the promise of building a better education she'll be able to come back and help her siblings and other relations here."
But Peter denied that he was given money for Mercy. He said: "No money has exchanged hands. Look at me, I haven't even got an account at the bank, I'm just a poor village man."
The scenes were filmed for the Channel 4 documentary Madonna and Mercy: What Really Happened.