FILE -- In this Friday, April 5, 2013 file photo Madonna, center, tours the Mphandura orpahange near Lilongwe, Malawi with her two adopted children David Banda, right and Mercy James, left. Court documents... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE -- In this Friday, April 5, 2013 file photo Madonna, center, tours the Mphandura orpahange near Lilongwe, Malawi with her two adopted children David Banda, right and Mercy James, left. Court documents in Malawi say Madonna was asked "uncomfortable questions" by a judge during the pop star's successful... (Associated Press) 
 
 FILE -- In this Friday, April 5, 2013 file photo Madonna, center, tours the Mphandura orpahange near Lilongwe, Malawi with her two adopted children David Banda, right and Mercy James, left. Court documents in Malawi say Madonna was asked "uncomfortable questions" by a judge during the pop star's successful... (Associated Press) FILE -- In this Friday, April 5, 2013 file photo Madonna, center, tours the Mphandura orpahange near Lilongwe, Malawi with her two adopted children David Banda, right and Mercy James, left. Court documents... (Associated Press) 
 
 LILONGWE, Malawi (AP) — Madonna was asked "uncomfortable questions" by a judge in Malawi during the pop star's successful application to adopt more children from the southern African country, according to a court document obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press. 
 
 Judge Fiona Mwale detailed her reasons for letting Madonna adopt the 4-year-old twin girls in a ruling on Tuesday, saying she was satisfied that Madonna "is motivated by her desire to offer a home, love, protection and guidance." 
 
 Madonna, who has two other adopted children from Malawi, previously described reports of a new adoption process as false, saying she was in the country for charity work. But on Wednesday she said in an Instagram post that "I can officially confirm I have completed the process of adopting twin sisters from Malawi and am overjoyed that they are now part of our family." 
 
 The singer filed for adoption in a high court in Lilongwe, Malawi's capital, on Jan. 25, court and government officials said. The Associated Press last month reported that she was seeking the adoption, but at the time she denied that any such proceeding was underway. 
 
 "The petitioner is a professional performer and I guarded myself against the danger of her merely reciting a well-rehearsed speech by asking her some rather uncomfortable questions to which she gave very candid answers," Mwale said in her ruling. 
 
 Mwale said she didn't challenge Madonna, 58, on Malawi's residency requirements for adoption, saying the country's Supreme Court of Appeal had addressed the issue in the pop star's previous adoption. 
 
 "In determining her motives, I questioned the petitioner at length about the impact of her decision which could be construed as robbing Malawi of its most precious resource, its children," the judge wrote. 
 
 Madonna said the children will keep their birth names as part of an effort to preserve their identity as Malawians, and a Malawian carer will travel with the children to the United States to ease their transition, according to the ruling. 
 
 The twins were delivered by cesarean section and the mother died within a week because of complications from the birth, the court document said. The children have five older siblings and the father, who was at the Jan. 25 court hearing attended by Madonna, had remarried and was unable to provide for all his dependents, it said. 
 
 In 2006, Madonna founded the charity Raising Malawi to address the poverty and hardship endured by the country's orphans and vulnerable children. 
 
 In 2013, Malawi accused Madonna of exaggerating her contributions to the impoverished country and unreasonably demanding special treatment during a tour there. The pop star denied the accusations. On a visit to Malawi in late 2014, she met newly elected President Peter Mutharika as well as the father of her adopted, Malawi-born son. 
 
 Mwale noted that the pop star has raised $7.5 million for her latest project in Malawi, the construction of a pediatric surgery ward at Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre. The ward is scheduled to open early next year. 

 Madonna may have initially denied any plans to adopt two children from Malawi, but her Instagram account told a different story. 
 
 The 58-year-old singer recently adopted 4½-year-old twin girls from Malawi, the country’s judiciary spokesperson Mlenga Mvula confirmed to PEOPLE. And an Instagram photo from July has since resurfaced, showing the little girls with Madonna’s 20-year-old daughter Lourdes. 
 
 She captioned the photo: “3 Beauties! Lola spends time with twins, Stella and Esther at Home of Hope Orphanage.” 
 
 She included several emojis of the Malawi flag. The little girls both donned serious expressions as they cuddled up to Lourdes. The photo was one of many the “Papa Don’t Preach” singer uploaded during a summer trip to the East African country. 
 
 Prior to adopting the little girls, Madonna was already mother to four children: Lourdes, Rocco, 16, David Banda, 11, and Mercy James, 11. 
 
 Mulva told PEOPLE that Madonna appeared in court on Tuesday along with the young children, their father and their uncle. 
 
 She “exuded happiness,” Mulva said of Madonna. She added: “[Madonna] smiled while she was making her way out of the courtroom, and then she drove away” with her new daughters. 
 
 A rep for Madonna did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. 
 
 Both David and Mercy were adopted from Malawi in 2006 and 2007 respectively. The singer has a long history with the people of the country and has worked to fight against poverty plaguing Malawi’s orphaned children for more than 10 years through her charity, Raising Malawi. 
 
 Mulva told PEOPLE that Madonna has “been very close to Malawi” — this year, the charity will build Malawi’s first pediatric surgery and intensive care unit, the Mercy James Institute for Pediatric Surgery and Intensive Care. 
 
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 “She has been involved in so many projects and is currently helping to expand the children’s ward at the Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital,” Mulva continued. 
 
 “So Madonna has been coming to Malawi frequently. So it is not unusual to people in Malawi at all. They know Madonna very well in terms of the high-profile work she has done for the community.” 

 List of Celebrities Who Adopted Children from Overseas, loosely ranked by fame and popularity. Many celebrities have chosen to adopt children internationally rather than domestically. The media speculates that this may be because it is much easier to adopt overseas and famous adoptive parents face a lesser risk of the birth parent changing their mind. 
 
 Who are the most famous people who have adopted children from overseas? Power couple Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt top our list. All three children were initially adopted by Jolie and Pitt took the steps to become an adoptive parent after the children were in the United States. Maddox was adopted at seven months old from Cambodia, Zahara Marley was adopted at six months old from Ethiopia and Pax Thien was adopted at 3 years old from Vietnam. 
 
 Pop superstar Madonna has adopted two children from Malawi. The “Material Girl” adopted David in 2006, when he was an infant, and her daughter Mercy was adopted when she was 4 years old. Other famous people who have adopted overseas include “Knocked Up” actress Katherine Heigl, “Trainspotting” star Ewan McGregor and Senator John McCain. 
 
 Do you think that the adoption process is easier overseas? Share your thoughts in the comments section.
– After initially denying reports that she was in the process of adopting more children from Malawi, Madonna confirmed Wednesday she had done just that—twin girls. A judge in the African country ruled in favor of the adoption Tuesday after asking Madonna what he termed "uncomfortable questions" in court papers obtained by the AP. The judge said he felt such questions were necessary to make sure the "professional performer" wasn't "merely reciting a well-rehearsed speech." He added that Madonna was "very candid" in her answers. In an Instagram post Wednesday night, she revealed her new daughters' names when she shared a photo of other Malawi orphans and noted, "There are 650 Orphans at Home of Hope where Estere and Stelle have lived for 4 years since they were 5 days old." In her initial Instagram post confirming the adoption, Madonna said she was "overjoyed" to add the girls to her family and asked for privacy from the media. But the AP has some details from the court papers, including the fact that Madonna kept the girls' birth names in an effort to preserve their Malawian identities. They were born via cesarean section and their birth mother died within a week due to birth complications; their father, who attended an adoption hearing last month, was not able to provide for all of his dependents, which include five older siblings of the twins. People notes that back in July, Madonna posted an Instagram photo of the girls (in which she refers to them as "Stella and Esther") with now-older-sister Lourdes, who was with Madonna at the girls' orphanage at the time. Madonna, 58, now has six children. (These 17 celebs have adopted kids from overseas.)