Woody Allen has responded to daughter Dylan Farrow's recent accusation that he molested her as a 7-year-old child.
On Friday, after a week of opinion pieces circulating widely, it was Allen's turn. Writing in the New York Times, Allen reiterates that he never molested Dylan.
Dylan's open letter was published in the New York Times on Feb. 1, creating a firestorm of attention which has begun to color awards season for the director. His film, Blue Jasmine, is nominated for three Academy awards: best original screenplay, best actress (Cate Blanchett) and best supporting actress (Sally Hawkins).
In her letter, Dylan challenged readers to name their favorite Woody Allen movie, after describing her memories of the director "doing things to me that I did not like. ... These things happened so often, so routinely, so skillfully hidden from a mother that would have protected me had she known, that I thought it was normal."
In the 1,858 word piece, which is published online and will appear in the Sunday print edition, Allen says:
"Of course, I did not molest Dylan. I loved her and hope one day she will grasp how she has been cheated out of having a loving father and exploited by a mother more interested in her own festering anger than her daughter's well-being. Being taught to hate your father and made to believe he molested you has already taken a psychological toll on this lovely young woman..."
Dylan, now 28, was adopted by Farrow and Allen in 1987 when she was 2. When Dylan was seven, she wrote, she told Farrow of the alleged abuse. Farrow left Allen that same year after the news broke of his relationship with Soon-Yi Previn, the 19-year-old daughter Farrow had adopted with husband Andre Previn. Allen and Soon-Yi married in 1997 and have two adopted daughters, Bechet and Manzie.
Allen also uses the essay to address Ronan Farrow's paternity. "Is he my son or, as Mia suggests, Frank Sinatra's? Granted, he looks a lot like Frank with the blue eyes and facial features, but if so what does this say? That all during the custody hearing Mia lied under oath and falsely represented Ronan as our son? Even if he is not Frank's, the possibility she raises that he could be, indicates she was secretly intimate with him during our years. Not to mention all the money I paid for child support. Was I supporting Frank's son? Again, I want to call attention to the integrity and honesty of a person who conducts her life like that."
A few more highlights:
On Friday, after a week of opinion pieces circulating widely, it was Allen's turn. Writing in the New York Times, Allen reiterates that he never molested Dylan.
Dylan's open letter was published in the New York Times on Feb. 1, creating a firestorm of attention which has begun to color awards season for the director. His film, Blue Jasmine, is nominated for three Academy awards: best original screenplay, best actress (Cate Blanchett) and best supporting actress (Sally Hawkins).
In her letter, Dylan challenged readers to name their favorite Woody Allen movie, after describing her memories of the director "doing things to me that I did not like. ... These things happened so often, so routinely, so skillfully hidden from a mother that would have protected me had she known, that I thought it was normal."
In the 1,858 word piece, which is published online and will appear in the Sunday print edition, Allen says:
"Of course, I did not molest Dylan. I loved her and hope one day she will grasp how she has been cheated out of having a loving father and exploited by a mother more interested in her own festering anger than her daughter's well-being. Being taught to hate your father and made to believe he molested you has already taken a psychological toll on this lovely young woman..."
Dylan, now 28, was adopted by Farrow and Allen in 1987 when she was 2. When Dylan was seven, she wrote, she told Farrow of the alleged abuse. Farrow left Allen that same year after the news broke of his relationship with Soon-Yi Previn, the 19-year-old daughter Farrow had adopted with husband Andre Previn. Allen and Soon-Yi married in 1997 and have two adopted daughters, Bechet and Manzie.
Allen also uses the essay to address Ronan Farrow's paternity. "Is he my son or, as Mia suggests, Frank Sinatra's? Granted, he looks a lot like Frank with the blue eyes and facial features, but if so what does this say? That all during the custody hearing Mia lied under oath and falsely represented Ronan as our son? Even if he is not Frank's, the possibility she raises that he could be, indicates she was secretly intimate with him during our years. Not to mention all the money I paid for child support. Was I supporting Frank's son? Again, I want to call attention to the integrity and honesty of a person who conducts her life like that."
A few more highlights:
- Allen says 21 years ago he found the molestation accusation "so ludicrous I didn't give it a second thought," and therefore "didn't even hire a lawyer" to defend himself until the matter was brought to the police.
- The director posits that the presiding judge in the original case, Justice Elliot Wilk, "never approved of my relationship with Soon-Yi, Mia's adopted daughter, who was then in her early 20s. He thought of me as an older man exploiting a much younger woman, which outraged Mia as improper despite the fact she had dated a much older Frank Sinatra when she was 19."
- Allen reveals he believes Farrow constructed the accusation as vengeance for his relationship with Soon-Yi. "Mia called my sister in a rage and said, "He took my daughter, now I'll take his," he says.
- Allen calls into question the setting allegedly chosen by Farrow, for the "fabricated molestation." He writes: "Mia chose the attic of her country house, a place she should have realized I'd never go to because it is a tiny, cramped, enclosed spot where one can hardly stand up and I'm a major claustrophobe."
