David Banda and Madonna perform during The Celebration Tour at The O2 Arena on October 15, 2023 in London, England.Photo: evin Mazur/WireImage for Live Nation (Getty Images)
Madonna’s son David Banda is clearing the air after causing a slight stir on social media earlier this week when talking about his living situation. For context, 18-year-old Banda had a handful of his followers and friends concerned this past weekend when he alleged that he had no money to feed himself while living in New York City with his girlfriend.
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Banda made the admission in an Instagram live session on Saturday.
“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 in the video, per ET. “I love it. I’m not on my own, I’ve got my girlfriend.”
As one of six of megastar Madonna’s children — she adopted him while on a humanitarian trip to Malawi with then-husband Guy Ritchie back in 2006 — this revelation naturally caused many to question whether or not she knew her son was seemingly destitute and without food and shelter. According to Forbes, Madonna’s net worth is at $850 million.
Due to the uproar, Banda later came back and clarified that he’s not homeless nor is he living on the streets and that his mother is in his corner.
“TO ALL OF THOSE CONCERNED, My mother is very supportive of me. She has always been supportive of me,” he wrote in a since-expired post to his Instagram stories. “I am very happy in my life and I am not living out on the streets, starving! Please stop worrying everything is good.”
Banda coming to his mother’s defense seems par for the course given the close nature of their relationship. In addition to being a mother-son duo, the two often perform together with the “Material Girl” singer often bringing him onstage during her tour stops.
In an interview with British Vogue in 2019, Madonna praised Banda for his musical gifts: “What he has more than anything is focus and determination. I’m pretty sure he got it from me. He’s the one I have the most in common with. I feel like he gets me; he has more of my DNA than any of my children so far.”
