Reported in Mother Jones:
Update: Allen’s attorney Elkan Abramowitz sent Mother Jones the following statement on Sunday afternoon:
It is tragic that after 20 years a story engineered by a vengeful lover resurfaces after it was fully vetted and rejected by independent authorities. The one to blame for Dylan’s distress is neither Dylan nor Woody Allen.
Update 2: Allen’s publicist Leslee Dart emails the following on Sunday afternoon:
Mr. Allen has read the article and found it untrue and disgraceful. He will be responding very soon…At the time, a thorough investigation was conducted by court appointed independent experts. The experts concluded there was no credible evidence of molestation; that Dylan Farrow had an inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality; and that Dylan Farrow had likely been coached by her mother Mia Farrow. No charges were ever filed.
Am wondering why you covered Dylan Farrow’s letter but won’t discuss Woody’s?
I get that this shouldn’t have been in the media at all so why contribute, but Woody didn’t ask for any of that and it’s only fair to present your readers with his side of the story, even if they’ve probably read it already.
Somebody posed this link in another thread: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/27/the-woody-allen-allegations-not-so-fast.html
Long but worth reading, if you haven’t already…
Antoinette said:
“But next time anyone wants to say anything to me, I’ll ask that they don’t act childishly and address me directly. But Mel since, I’m neither thoughtful or respectful according to you, I think we’re done.”
Oh, I’m sorry, did you invent the TeamWoody hashtag? Are you trolling the entire internet under hundreds of usernames posting that? I will directly address you next time. Didn’t know you were single-handedly responsible for all the “Team Woody” nonsense. So I guess I meant to say, I find Antionette alone, childish and disrespectful for using the term “Team Woody” and making light of this situation.
The Daily Beast article is of not matter or consequence to me. I’ve read it. It’s clearly written by someone far closer to Woody Allen than he wants to admit. I certainly don’t go emailing people I kinda know about their molestation allegations the minute they flare up. Not that any of it matters. Let’s just keep making light of it, drawing conclusions and continue to the perpetual problem our society has with acknowledging victims of sexual abuse without attacking them. You may not believe her, but why attack her? Why attack anyone?
* WITHOUT her testimony in court, sorry
To those who continue to cite the Yale-New Haven examination of Dylan as the reason Allen was not charged, upon a little further research, as I suspected this in not the case at all and the Yale report was hardly definitive; in the custody hearing in which Allen lost all custody of Dylan, Judge Wilk said of the Yale assessment that he “had reservations about the reliability of the [Yale] report”.
Thibault cited “a litany of practices employed by the Yale–New Haven clinic that at least one expert put into question. Based on an examination of court documents and the report, he wrote, “The Yale team used psychologists on Allen’s payroll to make mental health conclusions.” He reported that the team had destroyed all of its notes, and that Leventhal [head of the investigation team] did not interview Dylan, although she was called in nine times for questioning. They did not interview anyone who would corroborate her molestation claims. Judge Elliott Wilk, who presided over the custody hearing brought by Allen, wrote in his decision that he had “reservations about the reliability of the report.”
Further, the State Attorney’s medical and physiological assessment found Dylan’s account credible:
“Unlike the Yale–New Haven staff, the state investigators found Dylan credible. ‘When a little girl says someone digitally penetrated her, if a child relates pain to the incident at that age, that’s credible.’ ”
Maco’s investigation found Dylan’s allegation to be credible, and according to him the sole reason he did not prosecute the case is because after undergoing the rigors of the philological examinations and investigation, young Dylan appeared to reach a breaking point and became very fragile – she would no longer talk about the abuse and he felt that in her state he couldn’t in good conscience compel her to testify, and obviously he felt he couldn’t prosecute Allen with her testimony in court. He subsequently made it clear in a public statement that he felt there was merit to the allegations. “It’s not that the mother is a fabricator or concocter or that the child is unbelievable.” He was then sued by Allen for professional misconduct, and after a series of hearings was found not to have violated the rules of professional conduct.
The Daily Beast article is cherry-picked, sexist, misogynist, apologist disgrace. Anyone who prefaces their commentary with, “I know I’m treading and delicate path here, and opening myself to accusations of ‘blaming the victim’,” clearly knows he’s doing just that and needs to assess his sexist attitude brought to bear in his writing about a sensitive subject.
I respectfully disagree with Mel when Mel says “that entire post by Indio22 is all that needs to be said.” Many facts stated in the Daily Beast article were ignored or glossed over by Indio22. Maybe Indio hasn’t read the article.
I’m sorry. It just doesn’t ring true.
One incidence of abuse, 4 months into a custody hearing, in a house full of people who don’t like you, you (being claustrophobic) take your step-daughter for five minutes into a closet-like attic.
If the abuse had happened prior to the custody battle or while the two were by themselves on an outing, maybe. Again, no one knows except the two people, but he passed a polygraph, denying any action. Why didn’t Mia take a polygraph? Why would Mia sign off on anything that was related to this person if she truly believed he did those despicable acts – I would never allow anything with my likeness to be associated with this man if my permission was needed? Why wasn’t the tape that Mia made of Dylan left running – why all the cuts and edits? It’s entirely possible that he did this horrible thing as a way to get even with Mia – if so, he should be painfully electrocuted. It’s also entirely possible that Mia made it all up to get even with Woody. The one thing I do believe is that Dylan believes this is true. Unfortunately, the FACTS lean towards Mia drilling these lies into Dylan at a young age. I believe that Ronan and Mia began these recent attacks on Woody solely to gain publicity for Ronan’s new gig on MSNBC. I think if they were serious about the accusations, they would have chosen a different format than snarky tweets during the Golden Globes – hold a press conference if you are that disgusted – don’t make cutesy comments like “I’m switching to Girls.” If I was the mother who truly believed these accusations, my tweet would have read, “how can you people honor the man who assaulted my 7-year-old daughter – you all disgust me.” I would bring it up every day, every interview, every chance that I could from the time I found out about the abuse until the time justice was done. Just doesn’t ring true.
Mel and Indio22, it is very common for people to say TeamAniston or something like that when you are discussing a Hollywood scandal and want to show support for the person whose “Team” you are on. It’s a sign of support. No one thinks it’s a game or a sport. I would not have felt the need to show support for Mr. Allen here if I didn’t keep reading about what was being referred to as the crime he committed. That assumes guilt. I felt the need to come to his defense in that fashion because this whole thing had gone through the legal process decades ago and that fact was being ignored. He was investigated and no charges were brought against him. If it is written in an article on this site or any other that a crime was committed, the uninitiated may assume the writer wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true. Someone having untruths reported about them, that they committed a crime, should get support from people who know that they were not convicted or even charged with a crime. So one more time… #TeamWoody.
But next time anyone wants to say anything to me, I’ll ask that they don’t act childishly and address me directly. But Mel since, I’m neither thoughtful or respectful according to you, I think we’re done.
And the Oscar goes to….Cate Blanchett!
(I audibly sigh “Thank God”. )
Well, if you ever get falsely accused of something you didn’t do, then come back and we’ll talk.
That entire post by Indio22 was all that needs to be said. The childish “Team Woody” declarations are very disheartening and indicative of why so many abused women and children remain silent and nothing ever changes. Why is it so hard for people to be thoughtful and respectful?
luna, I’m familiar with Buford by now. He’s always like that but he has the right to his opinion. I have no need to respond to him.
Well said, Luna!
Woody Allen began seeing Mia Farrow around 1980. That would have made Mia’s adopted daughter Soon-Yi 10 years old. Eventually around 1991, after nude photos of Soon-Yi were found (taken by Allen), it came out that Allen was having an intimate relationship with Soon Yi.
Now, someone could technically point out that Allen was not officially married to Farrow during the 11 years he was a father figure in Soon-Yi’s life. And someone could also point out Allen never officially adopted Soon-Yi. But a piece of paper contract also does not make a family. This man Allen was a father figure for this girl Soon-Yi from the age of 10, and his son is Soon-Yi’s brother. So a case can be made that we are looking at family relationships. And yet Allen was able to develop at some point a sexual attraction to Soon-Yi, and eventually acted on that attraction.
Given the above, we know that Allen is the type of person, who can become sexually attracted to someone who is essentially a family member, and act on that attraction. Does that mean Allen is a pedophile and abused his other daughter Dylan? No. But it raises some red flags on what Allen considers the boundaries of family relationships, and what attracts him. I don’t think it is a behavior to be dismissed in a cavalier fashion, when assessing the situation.
Also, some people blame the entire thing on a crazy vindictive Mia Farrow. Farrow may very well have vindictive qualities, and yet Allen could still be an abuser. Certainly it doesn’t have to be a black and white, one or the other proposition.
Finally, I am with the commenter Luna, in terms of her reaction to persons posting things such as being on “Team Woody”. As we know, pedophilia often works in the shadows, and the pedophile knows how to operate against a child who is vulnerable in the situation. For these reasons unfortunately, there is often not the smoking gun ironclad evidence people would like. It is not uncommon that the incidents only come out later, or from a child who cannot express things as an adult. And sadly not uncommon for persons to dismiss the claims of the abused. Given the seriousness and gravity of the situation, regardless what a person believes, it is troubling some persons would be treating the situation as viewers of a sporting contest, placing themselves on “Team Woody”.
Alex, wrong point of view, hombre. We’re not trying to “silence” the Farrows. As many here have said, nobody knows what happened except for Dylan and Woody. Until evidence can be provided he did what Farrow claimed he did, nobody should change their perception of the man. If people are saying, “He probably did molest her, it makes sense since he married Soon Yi” then those are part of a mob lynch mentality. Guilty until proven innocent, right? As far as I’m concerned there was a 6 month investigation and nothing turned up. But again, that’s not even what this whole thing is about. Cate Blanchett’s name is being brought into this whole mess! If the Farrow’s want to go after Woody, ok. But bringing in her name, Baldwin, C.K. I mean come on.
Would you see a Woody Allen film ? Absolutely !
Would you let your Children to be an hour with Woody Allen ? No !
Great. Let’s silence the Farrow family, so that we can quietly enjoy another Woody Allen movie next year. What’s wrong with marrying your adopted daugher? It’s quite common, right?
As much as they try and discredit him, I will still pay to see his films. He obviously can compartmentalize his life & film work.
Does Mia & company have some vendetta against calling out Cate Blanchett (just when voting season is about to start?) Where was the outcry when production of Blue Jasmine started? Is this a role that was once discussed with Farrow and now she hellbent that Cate ran off with it? It’s not like Jasmine is a carbon copy/mockery of Farrow’s life.
Whatever their vendetta – they seem to be using the wrong tactics. The Academy loves everything that Allen puts out. A collective vote for Cate would be a big acknowledgement to Farrow that they don’t care about this incident. (If she made noise about Allen being pro-life, an Obama hater, anti-gay marriage, anti Affirmitative Action, pro-Iraq…then this fickle community would really shun him.)
Blue Jasmine’s script has won any recent precusor’s (let any last weekend’s WGA awards.) Allen’s direction of the same project isn’t nominated anywhere…so it’s not like HE’S the one that getting any career recognition.
THE HUNT is a movie that should win Best Foreign Language film , but unfortunately it wont ; they much prefer the stylish , chic, somewhat frivolous THE GREAT BEAUTY …many of the folks in Hollywood can identify with such a movie
The Hunt , like 12 YAS , is a movie that can teach a valuable lesson and can contribute to the betterment of society ; they are movies that can improve your mind , while others such as GRAVITY are thrilling entertainment and the Great Beauty just much ado about nothing
I doubt this story will have much legs beyond the initial shock.
Here’s why: I just watched The View and this is the first time the women had the opportunity to discuss this. They do have a large following of mostly women, and they do tend to appeal to middle America type audiences.
With the exception of one of the co-hosts who thought Dylan’s letter was reasonable to question, Barbara Walters defiantly defended Woody after saying that she was friendly with both Mia and Woody. She said that she’s seen him numerous times with Soon-Yi and their children and called him one of the most loving fathers she has seen. She also reiterated what most of us know but few media outlets are willing to highlight: a 6 month investigation proved that the claims were unfounded and decided not to pursue with criminal charges.
Moreover, when considering why Dylan wrote the letter in the first place, Walters went so far to say that it was because Woody is up for an award with Blue Jasmine. In other words, despite claiming to be friends with both Mia and Woody, she seemed clear in her support of Woody.
It also helps to know that when co-host Whoopi Goldberg introduced this topic, the only part of Dylan’s letter she read was when Dylan called out celebrities like Blanchett, Baldwin, etc. This is arguably the most troubling part of the letter in the sense that it puts Dylan in a negative light. The backlash, it seems, has already begun.
So the point is that The View is a popular media outlet and when introducing this topic for the first time, they seemed to not give it much credibility and both Goldberg and Walters, two of the most influential hosts, defended Woody.
I find this pretty indicative of how most rational people will be reacting once the dust settles on this.
Unlikelyhood, imagine if the accused was David O. Russell! There would be a field day on here.
Steve50 – put who in a barrel?
“Clearly some people would feel more comfortable convicting an innocent person than allowing a guilty person to go free. I am not one of those people and would have a hard time understanding wanting someone to suffer for something they didn’t do just because I’m not 100% sure they didn’t do it.
Anyone out there who makes false claims about rape or molestation is the worst kind of person, because they know those allegations will never go away. Those people do exist and their victims have to walk the rest of their lives with people believing lies about them and there’s nothing they can do about it.”
This.
*Hamill in his … attack on Mia in defense of Woody.’
Damn iPad keyboard.
I don’t want to believe Woody is guilty of these things any more than anyone, but some of the blanket vitriol directed at Mia reminds me of Pete Hamil in his misogynist attack on Woody …which sounds much like Woody’s statement. In both, Mia is the crazed, hysterical, vindictive and bitter woman. That bothers me. Because its never that simple.
Antoinette, I couldn’t care less what you think of my comment; I find it way more interesting that you (nor anybody else as of yet) have nothing to say about Buford T Justice’s extraordinarily misogynist bile; so let’s get this straight, it’s fine for someone to spew misogyny and insult women in general, but not ok to tell the person who does this that they are an idiot? I see, interesting perspective you have.
Terrific, Antoinette. But I doubt anything can educate the knuckle-draggers.
*100%
Why can’t luna make a point without insulting people? Moronic, misogynist, creepy, not terribly bright, if you actually knew anything, your ridiculous assertions.
Here’s the issue. In the case of rape allegations or molestation allegations no one knows who wasn’t there. Not me, not you, not anyone else. So in order for these cases to go forward you have to have a combination of evidence and you have to believe the accusers are trustworthy. If you don’t have that then you believe a crime was committed because you want to. Otherwise you would be truthful and just admit that you don’t know because you weren’t there.
Clearly some people would feel more comfortable convicting an innocent person than allowing a guilty person to go free. I am not one of those people and would have a hard time understanding wanting someone to suffer for something they didn’t do just because I’m not 100 sure they didn’t do it.
Anyone out there who makes false claims about rape or molestation is the worst kind of person, because they know those allegations will never go away. Those people do exist and their victims have to walk the rest of their lives with people believing lies about them and there’s nothing they can do about it.
I hope that Mr. Allen’s attorneys do what they can to fight back. I don’t know if they can ask for DNA testing to make sure that Ronan Farrow is not Mr. Allen’s biological son. Then we would know for sure what kind of woman Mia Farrow is. Not because she had a child with a married man, for the second time, but because she allowed Mr. Allen to believe that the child was his. That’s a kind of cruelty I don’t understand. In the event that that turned out to be true it would be great if she could be sued for any money that Mr. Allen mistakenly paid either in the care of the boy when they were together or later in child support. But I don’t believe that is possible. Also if that were the case then I think that means that Ms. Farrow and Mr. Allen have no biological children together. If that is the case and their adopted children have essentially disowned him or are estranged from her, I don’t see why there should be any contact between Mia Farrow and Woody Allen or why they would even need to speak of each other again. Perhaps Mr. Allen could get a restraining order of some kind or file a defamation suit.
I hope that at the very least that dragging this story back out again the way the Farrows have done will educate the average gossip reader on what actually happened. And then maybe the knuckle-draggers can stop saying he married his daughter.
Look at that. I’ve spent too much time with luna. Now I’ve learned to throw insults. tsk tsk.
Buford, your entire comment is moronic glimpse into the mind of a misogynist… “just another evil minded woman”, “female hysteria”, creepy. Also, you’re not terribly bright, as evidenced by your assertion that Farrow would be the one to file charges; she made a complaint to police and it was up to the State Attorney whether to prosecute.
“Former Litchfield County state attorney Frank Maco said in a phone interview Sunday with The Associated Press that the statute of limitations on adopted daughter Dylan Farrow’s accusations ran out at least 15 years ago.
Maco had said in 1993 that he lacked evidence to prosecute Allen but suspected the abuse did occur.”
Maco thought the abuse DID occur. Evil-minded man!!!
Also, if you actually knew anything about sexual assault and law enforcement, you’d know that the reason special victim’s units are set up in areas of larger populations that can afford them is because standard heavily-male police forces are known to be woefully inept at dealing with complaints of sexual assault and child molestation; the fact that Dylan’s allegation was investigated means investigators felt there was credibility to Dylan’s account, and the fact that Maco suspected the molestation did occur but didn’t think he had enough to win in court refutes your ridiculous assertions, and further bears out my comment: that even when law enforcement believes a sexual assault has occurred, that doesn’t mean they will prosecute.
Read more: Conn. Prosecutor: Woody Allen Can’t Be Prosecuted on Abuse Claims | TIME.com http://entertainment.time.com/2014/02/02/conn-prosecutor-woody-allen-cant-be-prosecuted-on-abuse-claims/#ixzz2sF0PautA
Maco had said in 1993 that he lacked evidence to prosecute Allen but suspected the abuse did occur. He retired in 2003.
Here’s something else that’s been forgotten: after she’d accused Woody of molesting Dylan, Mia then proceeded to accuse him of doing the same to his biological son, Satchel (now Ronan). Interestingly enough, she withdrew it after a couple of days. Maybe her team advised her that she’d crossed the line with that particular smear.
LUNA …you are exactly the type of person who should NEVER be allowed to serve on a Jury
The recent movie THE HUNT is a fine example of the modern day version of ”I always knew she/he was a WITCH” …any paranoid ,unhinged , or evil minded creep can make an accusation that can be fed upon by paranoia /female hysteria …any experioenced policeman knows to red between the lines when these kind of events occur …the fact that Mia never filed any charges is a clear and obvious indicator that she was just another evil minded woman looking for revenge against her ex-husband
luna, you’re gross. You should be smart enough to realize that just because someone is accused of any crime it does not mean they’re guilty. What’s revolting is that you’ve decided that you know what happened. I said that you can’t know for sure and that suspicions will always be there. But I grew up in a country where people are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. Our justice system decides that and didn’t find that this case merited going forward.
I don’t mind if people think horrible things about me as long as you’ve read all the background information and aren’t just coming from a stance that all accusers are victims. Clearly some people don’t remember the story and haven’t bothered to read the articles and just feel like jumping on a bandwagon.
luna, everyone seems to be having missing comments. If you write a long one, copy it before you hit post and try again. Otherwise you have to wait for Ryan to find it.
I did a deep search of the spam filter and freed about 25 falsely accused comments.
Then I cleared the cache that keeps the false tags sticky, so maybe this will finally fix the disappearances.
luna,
you are allowed to comment here.
Am I not allowed to comment here or something?
On a daily basis, thousands of people around the world have legitimate claims to being abused, yet the only ones anyone really cares about are celebs and their progeny.
Put these people in a barrel and send them over the falls.
This is very sad, and some of you are disgusting. Move on! TeamWoody. Gross.
Charges against rapists (of children or adults) are rarely filed, and the “expert” examination of children who have been sexually abused is fraught with difficulty, because children’s coping mechanisms after a trauma are very unpredictable: to experts, kids can appear unaffected by the ‘incident’ they describe; children can change their stories depending on to whom they are relating and make up parts of a story or fill in details they don’t remember; and they often repeat the same phrases by wrote, etc. – so unfortunately the very reasons that lead so-called experts to conclude that trauma hasn’t occurred or that a child has been coached can be the exact behaviour of how a child actually reacts when trauma HAS occurred and relating a kernel of truth. The number of cases where child physiologists have concluded a child has been untruthful or coached in allegations, and then further victims of the abuser have subsequently come to light, are astronomical in number. They get it wrong routinely, because psychology is an inexact science. The overwhelming majority of child molesters and rapists are never charged, this is a fact. People should be smart enough to realize that because someone isn’t legally charged with sexual assault, that doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. In this case, unless you were there you don’t know what actually occurred. The cheerleading is revolting.
If you tell someone who has been sexually assaulted to “move on”, you are fucking disgraceful.
Ryan – swallowed my comment again!
I hope you’ll all forgive me for re-printing my comment on the thread where Sasha solicited our opinions. I’d rather have the 20th comment here than the 160th there.
There, I applauded Jerry Grant and I said Jason Travis and Stephen Kaye and Rama were way out of line. Here, I question the certainty and insensitivity of Matt and Dean Treadway and I’m wondering about Antoinette here – though I actually defend Antoinette below. You and SallyinChicago – you’re acting as though you’ve heard from other abuse victims who’ve said that award shows cause them pain. Well let me clear something up for you: *you haven’t.*
Now to just quote myself from the other thread:
I see people trying to fit this into the mold of how we’ve seen things in the past – Polanski, Allen’s other races, the Farrow history, even ZDT. But I think that’s a mistake. This is unprecedented. Never before has a self-identified abuse victim accused a nominated writer-director *and in her first public accusation, identify award shows as increasing her pain.* sorry my junior Olivia Popes, but you don’t have a formula for how that works or plays out.
I’m not callous enough to accuse her of “suspicious” timing, nor quite credulous enough to say that a famous victim shouldn’t have the timing of her accusations questioned. I choose a third path: I take her at her word, and believe that these awards do bother her. I also believe she believes she was abused. Is it true? I don’t know.
What I do know is that depriving someone of an award is not the same as taking food from a poor person’s mouth. It’s the quintessence of first world problems; all 5 BA nominees are millionaires and will be fine however this goes. Dylan Farrow, maybe not.
But it’s not crossing a line to speculate on Blanchett’s chances – that’s what we do here. The line-crossing is to dismiss Dylan out of hand.
I wonder what Antoinette thinks of all this. One day the PC police around here jumps down her throat for saying she’ll still watch an orca-ornamented Olympics. Next day they’re saying, hey, come on, separate art from life. Stay classy AD!
Having said all that, I remain personally torn. Lots of directors have done lots of shit. As producer, Steven Spielberg killed 3 people on the Twilight Zone set; neither him nor Landis saw the inside of a jail cell (unlike Polanski). According to Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, James Cameron abused her on The Abyss, then blacklisted her for 10 years after she complained. If we go down this road with Allen, I’m not sure where it ends.
Yet somehow I think this thread would look a little different if the accused were Tom Hooper or Michel Hazanavicius – someone we don’t know at all. I think we’d have an easier time throwing one of them, and even one of their actresses, under the bus. Woody Allen – as Mattoc says just above me there – is Woody Allen. That’s part of this.
If I were a voter, I’d still probably vote for Blanchett DuBois. She earned it. Everyone working in Hollywood for two decades has worked for someone who has done something terrible. But…I’d think about it, maybe talk to women I trust and see how they feel, and let them persuade me. I love the Oscars as much as any of you and I’ve been here just as long. But no one *must* have something as trivial as an Oscar. Nicholas Kristof’s point isn’t that Blanchett should suffer by proxy; it’s more that a little gold statue being present or absent doesn’t count as suffering, and perhaps that should be considered. If such an award would cause an abuse victim further pain, well…I don’t care how accomplished you are as an Actor, balancing a great performance versus a young woman’s horrible story is no easy balancing Act.
If he wasn’t ‘Woody Allen’ would some of you dismiss the accuser and the accuser’s mother so assuredly?
No one knows, but I do know that a mother who believes her child has been harmed can be fierce. That’s doesn’t mean Woody is guilty, but it also doesn’t mean Mia is ‘crazy’ or ‘a liar’ …
And if you’re going to follow Ryan on Twitter, you might as well follow his complimentary foil as well. 🙂
Absolutely, Ryan. That’s probably why this isnb’t resolved.
As the great Ed Wood said “There’s a murder, and someone’s responsible”
Maybe speak to someone who is less definitive about what happened.
As for someone suggesting she may be confused with Mia’s brother. I don’t think I’d mistake someone else for Woody Allen. I mean, it’s Woody Allen.
There’s a reason Mia didn’t sit for a polygraph, like Allen did–it’s because she’s lying. That’s also the reason she didn’t press charges. Logically, it just doesn’t add up. If he was a child molester, they’d be discussions about the problem with his analyst (whom he’s been seeing for decades, and Allen provided authorities with a complete psychiatric evaluation). Child molesters don’t have healthy relationships with women (which Allen certainly has had; he was married three times before, and he’s been married to the same woman for 23 years now). They like children and children alone; heck, Mr. Allen has two daughters now, and they’re not going to the authorities, complaining of any sort of thing (plus his daughters were adopted, and the vetting process there is intense). You know what I think? I think this is an opportunity for people who never liked his movies, who always though Allen was a weirdo, to finally climb up on their high horse and say “See? I KNEW there was something about that guy I didn’t like.” So now they get to be “smarter” than the smart people who like his movies–you know, those smart people that make them feel dumb for not liking his movies. Mia has a history of concocting drama in her life. There’s a reason she didn’t work in anything memorable from 1969 to 1982, and that reason is probably because people found her difficult to work with. She helped break up two marrigaes (both with men significantly older than herself), sending one woman, Dore Previn, to the hospital. She has a least one alcoholic parent (her mother, Maureen O’Sullivan), and a brother who went to jail for a decade for what? Child molestation. And then, during a custody fight, she brings up that Woody is a molester, too? Like THAT hasn’t ever happened in a child custody fight…it’s just astonishing to me that people believe this story. I do feel sorry for Dylan, because she’s obviously been damaged by being put into the middle of all this. But Woody Allen didn’t do that; Mia Farrow did.
I don’t think it’s easier to call Dylan a liar. I think it’s reasonable to believe she’s been lied to for many years and honestly doesn’t know the truth anymore. Why wouldn’t any mother take a lie detector test unless she had something to hide? I find that really bizarre.
It’s just so much easier to call Dylan a liar than to believe Woody is capable of being a pedophile. If he were I would feel so uncomfortable watching his movies.
It’s just so much easier to call Dylan a liar than to believe Woody is capable of being a pedophile.
I tweeted that over an hour ago.
If more of you would follow me on twitter we would all save tons of time because I can cook up a pithy platitude for any goddamn occasion.
Be well-informed of the facts and let due process sort it out.
Due process already sorted it out. People either are ignoring that, weren’t around at the time, or just can’t read.
I lived in NY back then and it was in the papers every freakin’ day. As a fan of his I hoped it wasn’t true. And when they decided there wasn’t even enough evidence to go forward it should have been over. I was happy to go back to watching his films without people hating on him. But it never ended. All these years that he’s been getting Oscar noms and his actors have as well, this didn’t come up and was fading further and further into the past. I guess it faded enough that the Farrows just couldn’t take that people might have started to forget about it and that’s why they’re doing this. Otherwise, why not last year? or the year before? or the year before? or the year before? or the year before….
I’ve been hearing people call him a pedophile who married his daughter for two decades. Which proves how stupid, judgmental and uniformed people can be. And I’ve always known that they went through the process and although you can’t be completely cleared of something like this because suspicion will always be there, none of the evidence ever backed up the allegations.
I agree. Unless Woody confesses or more evidence arises that proves more reasonably Woody did this, I can’t accept it based on the results of the previous investigation. It simply doesn’t hold up, and as far as I’m concerned, I sleep better at night supporting a person even if there’s a chance he or she is guilty than condemning that person without certainty. Woody Allen is a person too, and his reputation and livelihood is at stake. Thank god his team is fighting back, because even if he doesn’t owe anybody anything and can easily take the high road and not give in to the pressure, by calling Mia out, he maintains his dignity.
I also think it’s interesting that Mia approved of the GG clip but then attacked the tribute. So she wants people to remember her acting career but then destroys the person who is responsible for it? Give me a break.
I doubt the Farrows wanted this, but after rehashing something like this on Twitter and then The New York Times, they’re going to get a backlash. Woody’s a smart man and he’s not gonna let them try to tarnish his reputation yet again.
Poor Dylan. She actually believes the what appears to be the desperate lies of her mother. I wonder if it was Mia’s brother who actually assaulted Dylan, and Mia convinced her otherwise. Sad, sad, sad.
Sally: Dory Previn didn’t kill herself when news of her husband’s affair with Farrow came out; she had a mental breakdown and ended up hospitalized and given ECT, but she only passed away in 2012. The whole business was a horrible shock to her (pun not intended), though, and did lead her writing the song “Beware of Young Girls” about the whole sorry business.
Getting back to the main story here, I don’t know what really happened any more than anyone else here does. I do believe Dylan (or Malone, as she calls herself now) truly believes that she was molested, which has clearly scarred her life, and I believe someone did do something awful to her…but whether that “something” was actual physical molestation, or being manipulated into believing she’d been molested, we may never know. I just wish the whole sad, sordid business had actually gone to court back in the day, rather than trying the case now in the court of public opinion, because there might have been a decent shot at getting to the truth then, but now? Not so much…
“At the time, a thorough investigation was conducted by court appointed independent experts. The experts concluded there was no credible evidence of molestation; that Dylan Farrow had an inability to distinguish between fantasy and reality; and that Dylan Farrow had likely been coached by her mother Mia Farrow. No charges were ever filed.”
All this please. Everyone should read it.
Including Sasha, so she doesn’t ask again for a man that has been completely cleared by the courts to be sent to jail.
This is an ugly, protracted family issue that certainly has a lot Rashomon-esque grays shading the truth that we aren’t privy to because we simply weren’t there at Frog Hollow.
A terrible ordeal for everyone directly involved – the Farrows, Woody, etc. I feel badly for all of them. And it’s sad to see this play out now in the court of public opinion again after so many years.
Still, it’s not our place to pass judgement or choose sides. Be well-informed of the facts and let due process sort it out.
Mia seems like mother convinced something happened to her child….
Right or wrong.
Mia Farrow seems crazy to me!!
Oh I’m picking sides. #TeamWoody
It’s ON!
‘Move on…’
We don’t know enough to pick sides. I loved Cate’s response. She refused to pick sides and spoke, as Sasha’s said, as a mother.
Yes move on! Don’t drag the actors into this.. I agree with Alec Baldwin 100%! Utterly disgraxsul
I’m glad he’s speaking. One thing that people forget is that Mia’s brother is a convicted ped and serving time.
http://www.showbiz411.com/2014/02/02/mia-farrow-where-is-her-outrage-over-her-own-brother-a-convicted-sex-offender-now-in-prison
They also forget that Mia had a baby with a married man, Andre Previn, and it drove his wife to suicide.
She’s got a lot of skeletons and I wouldn’t be surprised if she planted all this vindictiveness in her children.
I’m not saying Dylan is mistaken or lying or whatever, but whatever happened happened 20 years ago….move on!