Madonna told Oprah she and her husband, Guy Ritchie, contemplated adoption for more than two years before adopting the baby, according to audience member Sheryl Lewis, from Deerfield, Ill. Lewis added that Madonna said she has been surprised by the attention and controversy, especially surrounding the baby's father, Yohane Banda. Lewis said Madonna talked about meeting with the father. "She said she met with the father, she looked him in the eye," said Lewis. Madonna, according to Lewis, told Oprah that she and Ritchie had followed the country's customs and had secured both "oral and written approval … and just now the press have gotten to him."

This contradicts accounts of the adoption told by David's father, Yohane Banda. He has claimed in interviews that he had not realized he was signing away custody of his child permanently.

Another audience member, Amanda Bannon of Crawfordsville, Ind., said, "the biggest thing was that Madonna wants to get the point across that she doesn't want this to be a discouragement to other families to not adopt."

Overall, members of the Oprah Winfrey Show's audience appeared receptive to Madonna's arguments for adopting the child in her first television interview on the controversy during post-show interviews broadcast on WLS-TV, Chicago.

The interview will be aired on The Oprah Winfrey Show tomorrow (Wednesday 25 October) at 4:00pm EST on ABC.