Woody Allen's adopted daughter Dylan Farrow penned an open letter Saturday on a New York Times blog, publicly accusing the controversial filmmaker of sexually assaulting her when she was a young girl.
Farrow's first-person account, which appeared on reporter Nicholas Kritoff's blog, marks the first time that Miss Farrow, the daughter of actress Mia Farrow, has directly addressed the alleged sex abuse.
In gut-wrenching detail, Dylan Farrow wrote in her statement how at age seven, her adoptive father, Allen, allegedly led her by the hand to a dim attic on the second floor of their house.
'He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother’s electric train set,' Miss Farrow recounted. 'Then he sexually assaulted me. He talked to me while he did it, whispering that I was a good girl, that this was our secret, promising that we’d go to Paris and I’d be a star in his movies.'
She noted that to this day, she finds it hard to look at toy trains.
Farrow went on to describe how the award-winning director of 'Annie Hall' and 'Manhattan' would always find a way to touch her and do things to her she did not like, including sticking his thumb in her mouth, forcing her to get into bed with him and placing his head in her naked lap.
'I thought this was how fathers doted on their daughters. But what he did to me in the attic felt different,' she said.
Unable to keep her alleged encounters
with her father secret anymore, young Dylan went to her mother, asking
her if her own father used to do the same things to her that Allen was
doing.
The girl's explosive allegations put an end to Farrow and Allen's relationship in 1992, setting off a legal battle in which Dylan claimed the filmmaker accused his former girlfriend of brainwashing her daughter into thinking that he had assaulted her.
Shorlty after Allen and Farrow's split, it was revealed that the filmmaker began an affair with his adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, whom he married in 1997.
On Saturday night, just hours after the release of his daughter's bombshell letter, a somber-looking Allen was spotted arriving at a New York Knicks game in New York with two of his other adopted daughters in tow.
In her open letter, Dylan Farrow claimed that Allen used his ‘sexual relationship’ with her stepsister, Soon-Yi, to cover up the abuse Dylan herself had allegedly suffered at his hands.
The girl's explosive allegations put an end to Farrow and Allen's relationship in 1992, setting off a legal battle in which Dylan claimed the filmmaker accused his former girlfriend of brainwashing her daughter into thinking that he had assaulted her.
Shorlty after Allen and Farrow's split, it was revealed that the filmmaker began an affair with his adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, whom he married in 1997.
On Saturday night, just hours after the release of his daughter's bombshell letter, a somber-looking Allen was spotted arriving at a New York Knicks game in New York with two of his other adopted daughters in tow.
In her open letter, Dylan Farrow claimed that Allen used his ‘sexual relationship’ with her stepsister, Soon-Yi, to cover up the abuse Dylan herself had allegedly suffered at his hands.
What’s your favorite Woody Allen movie? Before you answer,
you should know: when I was seven years old, Woody Allen took me by the hand
and led me into a dim, closet-like attic on the second floor of our house. He
told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother’s electric train set.
Then he sexually assaulted me. He talked to me while he did it, whispering that
I was a good girl, that this was our secret, promising that we’d go to Paris
and I’d be a star in his movies. I remember staring at that toy train, focusing
on it as it traveled in its circle around the attic. To this day, I find it
difficult to look at toy trains.
For as long as I could remember, my father had been doing
things to me that I didn’t like. I didn’t like how often he would take me away
from my mom, siblings and friends to be alone with him. I didn’t like it when
he would stick his thumb in my mouth. I didn’t like it when I had to get in bed
with him under the sheets when he was in his underwear. I didn’t like it when
he would place his head in my naked lap and breathe in and breathe out. I would
hide under beds or lock myself in the bathroom to avoid these encounters, but
he always found me. 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. I thought this was how fathers doted on their daughters. But
what he did to me in the attic felt different. I couldn’t keep the secret
anymore.
When I asked my mother if her dad did to her what Woody
Allen did to me, I honestly did not know the answer. I also didn’t know the
firestorm it would trigger. I didn’t know that my father would use his sexual
relationship with my sister to cover up the abuse he inflicted on me. I didn’t
know that he would accuse my mother of planting the abuse in my head and call
her a liar for defending me. I didn’t know that I would be made to recount my
story over and over again, to doctor after doctor, pushed to see if I’d admit I
was lying as part of a legal battle I couldn’t possibly understand. At one
point, my mother sat me down and told me that I wouldn’t be in trouble if I was
lying – that I could take it all back. I couldn’t. It was all true. But sexual
abuse claims against the powerful stall more easily. There were experts willing
to attack my credibility. There were doctors willing to gaslight an abused
child.
After a custody hearing denied my father visitation rights,
my mother declined to pursue criminal charges, despite findings of probable
cause by the State of Connecticut – due to, in the words of the prosecutor, the
fragility of the “child victim.” Woody Allen was never convicted of any crime.
That he got away with what he did to me haunted me as I grew up. I was stricken
with guilt that I had allowed him to be near other little girls. I was
terrified of being touched by men. I developed an eating disorder. I began
cutting myself. That torment was made worse by Hollywood. All but a precious
few (my heroes) turned a blind eye. Most found it easier to accept the
ambiguity, to say, “who can say what happened,” to pretend that nothing was
wrong. Actors praised him at awards shows. Networks put him on TV. Critics put
him in magazines. Each time I saw my abuser’s face – on a poster, on a t-shirt,
on television – I could only hide my panic until I found a place to be alone
and fall apart.
Last week, Woody Allen was nominated for his latest Oscar.
But this time, I refuse to fall apart. For so long, Woody Allen’s acceptance
silenced me. It felt like a personal rebuke, like the awards and accolades were
a way to tell me to shut up and go away. But the survivors of sexual abuse who
have reached out to me – to support me and to share their fears of coming
forward, of being called a liar, of being told their memories aren’t their
memories – have given me a reason to not be silent, if only so others know that
they don’t have to be silent either.
Today, I consider myself lucky. I am happily married. I have
the support of my amazing brothers and sisters. I have a mother who found
within herself a well of fortitude that saved us from the chaos a predator
brought into our home.
But others are still scared, vulnerable, and struggling for
the courage to tell the truth. The message that Hollywood sends matters for
them.
What if it had been your child, Cate Blanchett? Louis CK?
Alec Baldwin? What if it had been you, Emma Stone? Or you, Scarlett Johansson?
You knew me when I was a little girl, Diane Keaton. Have you forgotten me?
Woody Allen is a living testament to the way our society
fails the survivors of sexual assault and abuse.
So imagine your seven-year-old daughter being led into an
attic by Woody Allen. Imagine she spends a lifetime stricken with nausea at the
mention of his name. Imagine a world that celebrates her tormenter.
Are you imagining that? Now, what’s your favorite Woody Allen movie?
Not surprised, Allen is weird and I hate his movies, something odd about him
ReplyDeleteThis is really sick but am glad she rose above the abuse. Woody should be locked up and his award retrieved.
ReplyDeleteNa wa oo.
ReplyDelete