Woody Allen Speaks Out
Posted by Michelle Moquin on February 19th, 2014
Good morning!
Perhaps you’ve been reading about Woody Allen, and the controversy over whether he molested his wife Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter, Dylan. There is a lot written accusing him. Is your opinion of Allen biased based on what others are saying? Is he guilty? Is he innocent? You be the judge.
Here’s the write from the New York Times:
Woody Allen Speaks Out
Last Sunday, Nicholas Kristof wrote a column about Dylan Farrow, the adopted daughter of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow. Mr. Allen has written the following response to the column and Dylan’s account.
TWENTY-ONE years ago, when I first heard Mia Farrow had accused me of child molestation, I found the idea so ludicrous I didn’t give it a second thought. We were involved in a terribly acrimonious breakup, with great enmity between us and a custody battle slowly gathering energy. The self-serving transparency of her malevolence seemed so obvious I didn’t even hire a lawyer to defend myself. It was my show business attorney who told me she was bringing the accusation to the police and I would need a criminal lawyer.
I naïvely thought the accusation would be dismissed out of hand because of course, I hadn’t molested Dylan and any rational person would see the ploy for what it was. Common sense would prevail. After all, I was a 56-year-old man who had never before (or after) been accused of child molestation. I had been going out with Mia for 12 years and never in that time did she ever suggest to me anything resembling misconduct. Now, suddenly, when I had driven up to her house in Connecticut one afternoon to visit the kids for a few hours, when I would be on my raging adversary’s home turf, with half a dozen people present, when I was in the blissful early stages of a happy new relationship with the woman I’d go on to marry — that I would pick this moment in time to embark on a career as a child molester should seem to the most skeptical mind highly unlikely. The sheer illogic of such a crazy scenario seemed to me dispositive.
Notwithstanding, Mia insisted that I had abused Dylan and took her immediately to a doctor to be examined. Dylan told the doctor she had not been molested. Mia then took Dylan out for ice cream, and when she came back with her the child had changed her story. The police began their investigation; a possible indictment hung in the balance. I very willingly took a lie-detector test and of course passed because I had nothing to hide. I asked Mia to take one and she wouldn’t. Last week a woman named Stacey Nelkin, whom I had dated many years ago, came forward to the press to tell them that when Mia and I first had our custody battle 21 years ago, Mia had wanted her to testify that she had been underage when I was dating her, despite the fact this was untrue. Stacey refused. I include this anecdote so we all know what kind of character we are dealing with here. One can imagine in learning this why she wouldn’t take a lie-detector test.
Meanwhile the Connecticut police turned for help to a special investigative unit they relied on in such cases, the Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of the Yale-New Haven Hospital. This group of impartial, experienced men and women whom the district attorney looked to for guidance as to whether to prosecute, spent months doing a meticulous investigation, interviewing everyone concerned, and checking every piece of evidence. Finally they wrote their conclusion which I quote here: “It is our expert opinion that Dylan was not sexually abused by Mr. Allen. Further, we believe that Dylan’s statements on videotape and her statements to us during our evaluation do not refer to actual events that occurred to her on August 4th, 1992… In developing our opinion we considered three hypotheses to explain Dylan’s statements. First, that Dylan’s statements were true and that Mr. Allen had sexually abused her; second, that Dylan’s statements were not true but were made up by an emotionally vulnerable child who was caught up in a disturbed family and who was responding to the stresses in the family; and third, that Dylan was coached or influenced by her mother, Ms. Farrow. While we can conclude that Dylan was not sexually abused, we can not be definite about whether the second formulation by itself or the third formulation by itself is true. We believe that it is more likely that a combination of these two formulations best explains Dylan’s allegations of sexual abuse.”
Could it be any clearer? Mr. Allen did not abuse Dylan; most likely a vulnerable, stressed-out 7-year-old was coached by Mia Farrow. This conclusion disappointed a number of people. The district attorney was champing at the bit to prosecute a celebrity case, and Justice Elliott Wilk, the custody judge, wrote a very irresponsible opinion saying when it came to the molestation, “we will probably never know what occurred.”
But we did know because it had been determined and there was no equivocation about the fact that no abuse had taken place. Justice Wilk was quite rough on me and 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. In fairness to Justice Wilk, the public felt the same dismay over Soon-Yi and myself, but despite what it looked like our feelings were authentic and we’ve been happily married for 16 years with two great kids, both adopted. (Incidentally, coming on the heels of the media circus and false accusations, Soon-Yi and I were extra carefully scrutinized by both the adoption agency and adoption courts, and everyone blessed our adoptions.)
Mia took custody of the children and we went our separate ways.
I was heartbroken. Moses was angry with me. Ronan I didn’t know well because Mia would never let me get close to him from the moment he was born and Dylan, whom I adored and was very close to and about whom Mia called my sister in a rage and said, “He took my daughter, now I’ll take his.” I never saw her again nor was I able to speak with her no matter how hard I tried. I still loved her deeply, and felt guilty that by falling in love with Soon-Yi I had put her in the position of being used as a pawn for revenge. Soon-Yi and I made countless attempts to see Dylan but Mia blocked them all, spitefully knowing how much we both loved her but totally indifferent to the pain and damage she was causing the little girl merely to appease her own vindictiveness.
Here I quote Moses Farrow, 14 at the time: “My mother drummed it into me to hate my father for tearing apart the family and sexually molesting my sister.” Moses is now 36 years old and a family therapist by profession. “Of course Woody did not molest my sister,” he said. “She loved him and looked forward to seeing him when he would visit. She never hid from him until our mother succeeded in creating the atmosphere of fear and hate towards him.” Dylan was 7, Ronan 4, and this was, according to Moses, the steady narrative year after year.
I pause here for a quick word on the Ronan situation. 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.
NOW it’s 21 years later and Dylan has come forward with the accusations that the Yale experts investigated and found false. Plus a few little added creative flourishes that seem to have magically appeared during our 21-year estrangement.
After all, if speaking out was really a necessity for Dylan, she had already spoken out months earlier in Vanity Fair. Here I quote Moses Farrow again: “Knowing that my mother often used us as pawns, I cannot trust anything that is said or written from anyone in the family.” Finally, does Mia herself really even believe I molested her daughter? Common sense must ask: Would a mother who thought her 7-year-old daughter was sexually abused by a molester (a pretty horrific crime), give consent for a film clip of her to be used to honor the molester at the Golden Globes?
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, and Soon-Yi and I are both hoping that one day she will understand who has really made her a victim and reconnect with us, as Moses has, in a loving, productive way. No one wants to discourage abuse victims from speaking out, but one must bear in mind that sometimes there are people who are falsely accused and that is also a terribly destructive thing. (This piece will be my final word on this entire matter and no one will be responding on my behalf to any further comments on it by any party. Enough people have been hurt.)
******
Readers: After reading this, I have strong doubts that he is guilty. Now, I am not saying that Woody Allen was the perfect father or husband, but is he a child molester? Thoughts? Blog me.
Peace & Love…
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February 20th, 2014 at 7:14 am
It is always nice to hear both sides. I tend to believe this one because the son was with the mother and he decided Woody was wronged.
February 20th, 2014 at 7:22 am
Woody Allen was known even notorious for not liking children much. Look at his early films & you’ll see there’s no kids in it. It was Mia who got him to be interested and one of the reasons they lived apart was he couldn’t stand being around children that much.
So he became besotted with Dylan, and Mia supposedly noticed Allen was ‘intense’ even predatory with his attentions.. So why didn’t she break off with him? Having such a man around wouldn’t have been good having her kids exposed to such a man before anything ‘happened’.. all was preventable.. Mia didn’t.. WHY?????
It was also she who made Allen take Soon Yi out and everything started from there.. Soon YI was 19.. & impressionable .. hell.. she was becoming a grown woman & you throw them together?
With no blood ties? When it happens when a woman with a grown blood daughter can get involved with her stepfather? Don’t cry woof.. woof.. when something happens & in this case.. It did.
February 20th, 2014 at 7:25 am
I have a major problem here with the abuse allegation,
“During a subsequent custody battle, Farrow accused Allen of sexually molesting Dylan. The allegations triggered a criminal inquiry by the Connecticut State Police. An investigative team from the Yale-New Haven Hospital concluded, after a six-month inquiry, that Dylan had not been molested. Allen was never charged.” {From the article.}
If a seven-year-old was molested “while playing with her brother’s train set” odds-on there would have been evidence. Plus, and this is not a minor point, why did Mia Farrow wait until the Custody Battle? If she was so convinced that Mr Allen did what she alleges how come she instantly wasn’t to the police before she even thought of divorce?
Solidly appears that the child abuse originated with Ms Farrow as she convinced her children in order to enact revenge. Soon-Yi Previn was her adopted daughter and all.
And to clarify, Soon-Yi Previn was 19 and Allen 56 when she and Mr Allen had their affair. That does not qualify as molestation; and is not even close to 7 (does not establish a pattern). The couple married in 1997 {Source, Wikipedia}.
February 20th, 2014 at 7:26 am
People need to believe this woman. I personally am putting Woody Allen in the same category as Mel Gibson, and will boycott his work from now on.
February 20th, 2014 at 7:32 am
So, basically, Dylan Farrow’s upset because her sob story (which I believe to be untrue) was upstaged by her mother in Vanity Fair. This girl is a world-class narcissist. And a twit
February 20th, 2014 at 7:33 am
I’m taking a Zen Lill stand here. Looking at both sides equally, this doesn’t make any sense. At 1992, the US is at the height of enforcing child protection laws EVERYWHERE and Dylan’s mother, investigation team, prosecution team, and judge decided it was better to release an alleged molester back into the streets rather than expose her to the trauma of a trial.
Really? Shouldn’t Dylan be suing her mother, prosecution team, investigators, judges, and the child protection services?
February 20th, 2014 at 7:46 am
It is too late to file any criminal or civil suits against anyone.
February 20th, 2014 at 7:47 am
LLoyd#1, I’m agreeing with you. Ronan wasn’t even old enough to know what was going on. It’s unfortunate he grew learning how to hate his father instead of seeking the truth. Most children don’t grow up hating people. Unfortunately they are taught to hate.
February 20th, 2014 at 7:49 am
His father was sleeping with his older sister. His father is still sleeping with his older sister.
There is no dispute to the eyewitness testimony that Woody Allen was nuzzling his daughter’s lap. In what country does that alone not constitute child abuse?
February 20th, 2014 at 7:50 am
Gwen, Turns out that Woody likely isn’t his father, Mia says it is more likely Frank Sinatra, the guy whose marriage she broke up when she was a teenager, married when she was 21, then two guys later she is still having sex with Frank during her relationship with Woody.
Didn’t stop her from passing the kid off as Woody’s and taking child support payments for him, and the other two adopted children she wouldn’t allow him to see. It is too bad that he was taught to hate Woody Allen, because Mia wanted it that way.
February 20th, 2014 at 7:51 am
I like the honest way most of you are examining this lie against an innocent man. Zen Lill, what is your take?
February 20th, 2014 at 7:52 am
Beverly#9:
Precisely. People seem to ignore this eyewitness account, which would certainly lead a prosecutor to say he had probable cause. If Dylan and the babysitter (a babysitter not employed by either Farrow or Allen) had been able to testify in court, Allen very likely would have been found at least guilty of a charge of lewd conduct with a minor.
I particularly like how Allen’s defenders like to make out that Mia Farrow was the vengeful witch who could brainwash her child into false memories of abuse but not brainwash Dylan enough to get her to testify in court, which after all, should be the whole purpose of her wicked scheme.
As for Moses, well, he obviously has some major issues. A family counselor who is separated from his wife and children, estranged from his mother and the majority of his many functioning, adult siblings, just so he could reunite with his father/brother-in-law and sister/stepmother, probably is more in need of therapy than capable of giving it. His statements of what happened on Aug. 4th are contradicted by the testimony of the different babysitters.
February 20th, 2014 at 7:53 am
Frank Sinatra was sleeping with Ronan’s older sister?
February 20th, 2014 at 7:54 am
No one chooses to be a victim. For this she has my empathy and support. On the other hand, why would she selectively choose to be victimized for 21 years?
I realize how traumatic her life was growing up hating her father, but to continue with these accusations implies she is not receiving the support she needs.
Using the public, rather than a jury, to seek justice or retribution implies something else is at play here. I believe that there is truth in both Ms.Dylan’s letter and in Woody’s reply.
February 20th, 2014 at 7:55 am
Nice start to a career as a fiction writer. Way to use your famous parents and an old story that police and doctors didn’t believe at the time, to get an article published in the New York Times.
Should help your brother Satchel/Ronan with attention for his talk show, when it starts up later this month. How about you write an expose on Mia’s long chain of lovers, affairs, why she adopted all those kids, some of whom are dead now?
Or write about your uncle, Mia’s brother, the one in prison for sexual abuse of children? Or her friend Roman Polanski, the child rapist that your mother defends?
February 20th, 2014 at 8:04 am
Famous people can be sickos too. After reading a few acticles about Dylans abuse and giving it time to register,I was over-emotional.
This happens way too often but it seems like if the molester is famous they get away with it. My name is Nichole I was born in 1969. My entire life I’ve had a mental disorder that was suppost to be kept a secret to protect the adults in my life.
I had seizures since childhood and at one time I was told I had Post Traumatic Convulsive Disorder. In 2010 I was diagnosed with an Autism Spectrum Disorder and other issues. .I was abused by a famous music band when I was a small child and until my mother died when I was 12.
They continued to harass my kids and I,even interfering with jobs and medical care.Even after my mothers death I was
constantly harrased, humiliated,and set-up to be the ‘bad guy’ by this band.
One of them is my biological father but I was kept a secret because my mother was married with 3 boys and had mental issues. His bandmate had sexual relations with my mom
while he was molesting me.The same famous sicko molested my kids years later. My kids and I were not the only children that were abused by this band.
I had been around these famous musicians my entire life until I confronted them about the abuse through social networking sites.
Because of a mental disorder of my own, being told I ‘better never tell’,my daughter and I are being threatened with 2 gunshots at our home by one of them, my own actions out of fear and stupidity, no one EVER believed me when I told.
So I became terrified,angry,overweight and self medicated
(mostly alcohol) to deal with the mental/molestation issues. I did ALOT of lying since I was a kid, because I was told don’t tell so I was afraid to tell the truth, ever,and did negative/stupid things in my life which I believe were related to the abuse from these molesters(causing and videotaping small children to engage in sexual acts,videotaping my children using the toilet,making children perform crude sexual acts,etc.).
When I saw this band and their friends,I would become so angry that these pediphiles wouldn’t stay away from us that I would throw fits where I got extremely angry and wanted to hurt other people and myself, which I believe is due to the sexual abuse I went through and the mental disorder.I have seeked help (crisis hot line,therapist,safe house)in the past to deal with my issues but these same musicians knew,showed upand always found away to stop people from believing me.
I even contacted a TV show to please give me a lie detector test and that if I failed I would willingly go to jail. I am telling the truth but without lie detector(which I can’t afford) I don’t know how to prove what I’m saying.
I don’t want to be on TV, I’m not lookin for 15 minutes of fame,I don’t want to sue anyone.I think taking money to keep a sick secret like molestation is wrong and the guilty party will
just do it again because they think their money will buy silence.
But I now have two grand-daughters,and I fear this same thing happening to them from these same sickos.I would like the truth about this famous group to be known.
I spoke with one of my daughters about ‘going public’ but with a new baby she doesn’t want that. I don’t think anyone should get away with molesting children even if they are famous.
There is SO much more to this but no one has EVER believed me and wanted to hear what happened the first 12 years of my life.
I’ve been watched doing a million bad things in my life but I believe most of them would have never happened if these
guys hadn’t done the sick things they’ve done to my children and I.I believe Dylan 100%
February 20th, 2014 at 8:05 am
I wish that both Dylan and Ronan would shut up and go away, but there doesn’t seem to be much hope of that. They all need therapy.
Private therapy, like at a doctor’s office, not the New York Times kind of therapy. Ronan, go get the DNA test, you likely will be glad to have proof you aren’t Woody’s kid, given how you feel towards him.
February 20th, 2014 at 8:08 am
I, like Zen Lill, will keep doing this, even if people argue the point it is not relevant. There has always been two issues here, the acusation by Dylan, and the relationship with Soon-Yi, when Soon-Yi was 19 or 20, technically that qualifys as the age of consent.
That relationship does not make Allen a pedophile, even if it is morally questionable. But people are aware that Mia Farrow’s younger brother, John, was convicted of molesting two boys, not accused, mind you, convicted as of Oct 2013, he is spending ten years.
Yet the media repeatedly does not bring this up, why is that? I believe Dylan was abused, but my whom? Anything could have happened in 1992. There needs to be an investigation to see if John Farrow was in the aproximate area at the time of the incident(s), if so, then it stands to reason that makes him a prime suspect.
John is already in prison so it couldn’t hurt for him to come clean if he was guilty. I’m not a believer in false memory implants, but I also see it’s possible that Dylan was lead to it was Allen and not the uncle.
Also the way that Dylan was questioned in 1993 was botched, she was questioned by three doctors with Mia present, that should have not happened.
I’m not a huge Woody Allen fan, I have no dog in this fight, but when you have a brother that’s been convicted, where you have smoke, you have fire. It’s as simple as that.
February 20th, 2014 at 8:09 am
It’s sad that the main argument people use to defend Woody and try to discredit people showing support for Dylan is that Soon-Yi wasn’t his daughter or stepdaughter or anything close to that so he didn’t allegedly do anything wrong and therefore the person is misinformed.
By that definition, though, Dylan was also not his daughter. However, in his NYT article, Mr. Allen referred to Dylan as a daughter repeatedly, including the following quotes, “she has been cheated out of having a loving father” “Being taught to hate your father and made to believe he molested you” .
February 20th, 2014 at 8:10 am
Why is everyone blaming Mia? Woody Allen’s relationship wth Soon-Yi may be legal but to my mind it is creepy. My husband and I welcomed my grand-niece into our house when she was 10.
It would creep my out if my husband had later left me to marry her. He viewed her as a “daughter” and if Woody Allen was normal he would also have viewed Soon-Yi as a daughter and no a potential wife.
Did he abuse Dylan? Only she and Wood know for sure. But knowing his history, I would tend to believe Dylan. Yes, this whole relationship is disfunctional but I think Woody is more to blame than Mia.
February 20th, 2014 at 8:12 am
Craig#15, is Mia that famous blonde American actress binging on LSD at that famous France resort in the late 60s (after Frank booted her out). I recall said woman kept having to abort babies due to all major birth defects. I
f it is, it explains why she started adopting all her kids after her comeback to play Daisy. Where was she all those years after Frank and before Great Gatsby Daisy?
February 20th, 2014 at 8:13 am
From Maureen Orth’s November article in Vanity Fair: “[Dylan] is writing and illustrating a 500-page novel in the Game of Thrones genre.”
So, she’s a professional fantasist.
February 20th, 2014 at 8:14 am
Meg#18, I think you have a good point. If she was abused, it was probably by her uncle and she switched out memories when her mother went whacko after she got dumped by Woody. It’s also possible Soon-Yi found in Woody an “emotionally stable” life that was lacking at the Farrow’s.
I mean the woman really is a whack job since the early tabloid days. She makes Lindsey Lohan look like a saint but she had a very good publicist to cover the abortions, drugs, and STDS,
February 20th, 2014 at 8:17 am
Daniel#19 – Dylan is the adopted daughter of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen. Soon-Yi is the adopted daughter of Mia Farrow and her lover and then later husband, Andre Previn.
Woody is married to the adopted daughter of his ex-girlfriend, not to his own daughter. Soon-Yi says that Woody was never a father figure to her, that Andre Previn was her father.
Those movie people are indeed an odd bunch, but it doesn’t mean that Woody abused Dylan.
February 20th, 2014 at 8:21 am
Nichole#16. you are obviously one sick puppy looking to sell a lie about some “famous band.” I hope no one bites.
You have probably been trolling every site that mentions any articles about child molestation to see if you can get a few dollars.
It is sick bastards like you that make it difficult for true victims of sexual abuse to get help or attention.
Fuck off. Find some other venue. The people on this blog are too smart to be duped by your bullshit attempt at 15 minutes of fame and a few dishonest dollars.
February 20th, 2014 at 2:02 pm
He married his daughter… enough said.
February 21st, 2014 at 6:30 am
Indy, No, he didn’t. Soon-Yi Previn is no relation to Woody Allen, other than his wife.
February 21st, 2014 at 6:31 am
He married his ex-lover’s adopted daughter. Mia had sex with a 50 year old guy when she was 19. Sinatra or not, it was considered pretty creepy.
February 21st, 2014 at 6:32 am
Holy Moly: There are generally three sides to a story: “His”, “Her’s”, then there is the “Truth”. The only people that know the truth are Mia and Woody.
DF was a victim of something….this I believe! But a victim of what is the real question?Medical personnel found no physical evidence of sexual abuse, so……unless you were a fly on the wall you don’t know.
Mental abuse has no physical evidence, so which one is more likely. I am the first one to jump on a soapbox and fight for victims, but this whole story is sketch.