For decades, Woody Allen’s wife Soon-Yi Previn has stayed silent about their unconventional marriage.
Now, in a piece written by a close friend of Allen’s, she has finally broken her silence, defending the controversial sexual assault allegations surrounding her film director husband.
In the profile published in New York Magazine, Previn called out her adoptive mother Mia Farrow – Woody Allen’s partner of 12 years – claiming that she was abusive and neglectful.
At 21 years old, Previn began a relationship with the then 57-year-old Allen behind her adoptive mother’s back. The relationship came to light when Farrow discovered naked Polaroids of Previn in Allen’s home in early 1992.
Speaking to writer Daphne Merkin, who has been a friend of Allen’s for over four decades, Previn, who was adopted by Farrow in South Korea in 1978, detailed her relationship with her mother.
In the interview, the now 47-year-old claimed her adoptive mother once asked to film her speaking about her early childhood. She asked Previn to speak about her birth mother, claiming she was a prostitute who beat her, but Previn had no recollection of the information Farrow was telling her.
Previn also described Farrow as abusive, describing how Farrow slapped her across the face, called her "moronic" and "stupid" and once threw a porcelain rabbit at her.
"She would tip me upside down, holding me by my feet, to get the blood to drain to my head. Because she thought – or she read it, God knows where she came up with the notion – that blood going to my head would make me smarter or something," Previn, who struggled with learning difficulties, said.
Only one of Farrow's 14 children has supported Previn's claims so far. In the article, Farrow's adopted son, Moses described his adoptive mother's parenting style as a "total breakdown of your spirit".
"It's the honeymoon when you're first adopted, then the veil gets pulled back and you start seeing Mia for who she is," he added. Farrow has reportedly denied the allegations.
Previn also responded to longstanding allegations that Allen sexually assaulted his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow.
"What’s happened to Woody is so upsetting, so unjust. [Mia] has taken advantage of the #MeToo movement and paraded Dylan as a victim. And a whole new generation is hearing about it when they shouldn’t," she said.
Dylan Farrow and her brother, journalist Ronan Farrow, have released statements in response to the controversial article.
"Woody Allen molested me when I was seven years old, part of a documented pattern of inappropriate, abusive touching that led a judge to say there was no evidence that I was coached and that it was unsafe for me to be in Woody Allen's presence," 33-year-old Dylan said.
"The idea of letting a friend of an alleged predator write a one-side piece attacking the credibility of his victim is disgusting."
Ronan Farrow also criticised the publication for their failure to print Dylan's responses to the claims.
"I owe everything I am to Mia Farrow. She is a devoted mum who went through hell for her family, all while creating a loving home for us," he said.
"But that has never stopped Woody Allen and his allies from planting stories that attack and vilify my mother to deflect from my sister's credible allegation of abuse."
Farrow and Allen's adoptive daughter Dylan alleges that Allen touched her inappropriately as a child, groomed her, sexually assaulted her and once "buried" his head in her lap after taking off her clothes.
“He instructed me to lay down on my stomach and play with my brother’s toy train that was set up,” she told CBS This Morning earlier this year. “And he sat behind me in the doorway, and as I played with the toy train, I was sexually assaulted… As a seven-year-old I would say, I would have said he touched my private parts.”
In recent months, numerous actors including Timothée Chalamet and Rebecca Hall have expressed their guilt about working with the director in light of the allegations.
Top Comments
Talking trash about Mia (whether true or untrue) does not in any way exonerate Woody Allen. You can have one mentally/ verbally/ physically/ emotionally abusive parent, and still have a stepfather who grooms and manipulates you into a sexual situation, who alls you into a false sense of security.
In fact, if anything, it would make you an easier target, being so vulnerable, so crushed and broken. A predator would recognise the opportunity. A stepfather could present himself as the safe, loving alternative, the gentle caring, option. And you'd have no idea because you're a child and they are the world adult with all the power and control. I can see how Woody would have seemed like an 'out' from the life Soon Yi claims she was living with Mia. And she would still have no idea to this day, and believe she chose it herself.
Woody Allen was never a 'step-father' to Soon-Yi Previn. He lived separately and had no input or role as a father-figure. He slept with his girlfriend's daughter- morally reprehensible- but hardly a unique act.
Thing is, the court of public opinion will neither exonerate or convict Woody Allen. Unless charges are brought and formally heard, all we have is a divided family, horribly complex relationship dynamics, and a whole lot of conflicting accounts from both sides.
Woody Allen was NOT her 'stepfather' or 'adoptive father' of 'father' in any other quality.
Please respond to this KNOWN FACT.
Woody Allen was never her "stepfather". Previn was the adopted daughter of Mia Farrow and her husband at the time, André Previn. Allen never adopted her. Soon-yi herself is on the record as saying Allen had nothing to do with her when she was a child, and she never considered him a father figure. Whilst I agree that the circumstances of their getting together is unusual, it's important to report the clinical facts, rather than conflating issues.