20 years later, Mia Farrow and adopted daughter dredge up old allegations against Woody Allen

Last November, the aptly-named gossip magazine Vanity Fair published what can be regarded as a “hit piece.” Written by Maureen Orth, who apparently specializes in that sort of thing, it dredged-up the 20-year-old allegations against Woody Allen by actress Mia Farrow, supported by her son Ronan Farrow (formerly Satchel Allen) and her adopted daughter Dylan Farrow. When this was largely ignored (especially by its target), Dylan Farrow wrote an “open letter” which vaguely detailed alleged actions by Allen that she found crossed the  line into pedophilia, and even attacked actors who continue to work with him. These allegations are that Allen put his thumb in her mouth, that he placed his head on her “naked belly,” and that he supposedly went into her bed in his underwear. In the past it has been a “maybe yes, maybe no” if Allen actually did anything more specifically sexual with her, but she didn’t repeat the charge of any vaginal action. 

Given that Allen was 55 at the time, and Dylan Farrow was 7, this certainly sounds “bad” if there is no context—unless, of course, you take into consideration a vindictive mother with a chainsaw to grind, especially one who is more used to being the young nymphet breaking-up the marriages of older men, and now finding herself the one thrown over for a 19-year-old. It is remarkably easy to make false allegations from “interpretation”; if a father hugs a young daughter, a vindictive ex-spouse can not only turn that into a sexual molestation charge, but have the daughter believing it to. 

Allen, who had previously thought the issue was past, found that he was being hammered on Twitter—or told so, since he claims he has no idea what Twitter is, still using his sixty-year-old typewriter. His son (maybe) Ronan Farrow, who somehow believes that his relationship to Allen had no impact on his having—at 26—his own show on MSNBC, supports his “sister” Dylan even though they have no blood ties whatever, and still insists that Allen was the “father” of all of Farrow’s adopted children from her relationship with Andre Previn, including Soon-Yi, who is married to Allen. This warped thinking can only be the product of brainwashing from a vindictive woman.

It should be pointed out that a lot of the information out there about Allen and Soon-Yi is based on false notions. Although Allen and Farrow were, technically, boyfriend/girlfriend, they were not live-in “lovers.” They played “pretend” family, and certainly not in the traditional sense. Throughout their 12-year relationship they lived in separate residences, and Allen reportedly never stayed overnight at the Farrow residence, where all of the children also lived. Allen and Farrow were not married; except for their biological son (or maybe not), and other than Moses Farrow, none of Farrow’s natural or (mostly) adopted 14 children regarded Allen as their “father.” Allen hardly knew Soon-Yi during most of his relationship with Farrow, until she insisted that he play a part in her life; the “famous” scenes of Allen and Soon-Yi at basketball games was part of the “get to know” each other routine. The relationship obviously became something more—particularly in light of the fact that Soon-Yi was a highly intelligent, educated individual, contrary to popular belief. 

Allen, who always insisted that allegations against him were a product of Mia Farrow’s propaganda campaign to deny him custody or visitation rights following the break-up of their relationship, apparently decided he needed to respond to the new round of attacks, publishing an op-ed recently in the New York Times. "Not that I doubt Dylan hasn't come to believe she's been molested,” he wrote, “but if from the age of 7 a vulnerable child is taught by a strong mother to hate her father because he is a monster who abused her, is it so inconceivable that after many years of this indoctrination the image of me Mia wanted to establish had taken root?"

Allen went on to say that "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."

In response to Allen’s assertions, Orth wrote a “follow-up” to her Vanity Fair article, entitled “10 Undeniable Facts About the Woody Allen Sexual-Abuse Allegation,” which is essentially a compendium of Dylan Farrows’ claims and third party hearsay about “odd” things they allegedly saw. Dylan Farrow stands by her “refreshed” memory of the past, although Moses Farrow, now estranged from his adoptive mother, says that Dylan “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. The day in question, there were six or seven of us in the house. We were all in public rooms and no one, not my father or sister, was off in any private spaces. My mother was conveniently out shopping.”

Moses went on to assert that “I don’t know if my sister really believes she was molested or is trying to please her mother. Pleasing my mother was very powerful motivation because to be on her wrong side was horrible and that she drummed it into me to hate my father for tearing apart the family and sexually molesting my sister.”

Dr. John M. Leventhal, who conducted interviews with Dylan Farrow in the initial investigation of the allegations, concluded that there were so many discrepancies in her story that "We had two hypotheses: one, that these were statements that were made by an emotionally disturbed child and then became fixed in her mind. And the other hypothesis was that she was coached or influenced by her mother. We did not come to a firm conclusion. We think that it was probably a combination…It's quite possible -- as a matter of fact, we think it's medically probable -- that she stuck to that story over time because of the intense relationship she had with her mother," he said.

It was also the opinion of Dr. Leventhal that the "view of Mr. Allen as an evil and awful and terrible man permeated the household. The view that he had molested Soon-Yi and was a potential molester of Dylan permeated the household." He also found it “striking” that Dylan Farrow repeatedly tied her allegations with Allen’s relationship with Soon-Yi and lamentations about her “poor mother.” 

What about Mia Farrow? Most people might remember her from Rosemary’s Baby, and sometimes in real life she seems just on this side of sanity as she does in that film, although her defenders—like anyone else who doesn’t actually live with her every day—point out that she is a “nice” person who cares about the world. Back in 1992, a lot of people became disturbed by the idea that a 55-year-old man would have a relationship with a young woman of 19, but certainly Farrow should have “understood”; after all, she married Frank Sinatra when he was 50 and she was 21. That marriage didn’t last long, and in no time Farrow had broke-up the older Andre Previn’s marriage, even becoming pregnant by him when he was still married to songwriter Dory Previn, who would have an emotional breakdown and briefly spent time in a mental institution. 

In between those excursions, there was the claim that Farrow was allegedly “molested” by the Indian guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, which even George Harrison was persuaded to believe, and John Lennon’s song “Sexy Sadie” was written about the Maharishi; it turned out, however, that this allegation were bogus, as Farrow has changed her story over the years to fit her current whim. Her latest assertion was that he "groped" her.

It is clear who Dory Previn blames for the break-up of her marriage; her song “Beware of Young Girls” says as much (there is a YouTube video of the song performed recently by Kate Dimbleby and Naadia Sheriff, with a large screen of pictures of the young Mia Farrow): Previn, who passed away in 2012, recalled that her husband initially did not like  Farrow, who was apt to say strange things, was unable to handle her liquor, and danced like a “stork”—but she  was also “observant,” silently sitting in a corner, biding her time, waiting to pounce: 

Beware of young girls
Who come to the door
Wistful and pale
Of twenty and four
Delivering daisies
With delicate hands

Beware of young girls
Too often they crave
To cry at a wedding
And dance on a grave

She was my friend
My friend my friend
She was invited to my house
Oh yes she was
And though she knew
My love was true
And
No ordinary thing
She admired my wedding ring
She admired my wedding ring

She was my friend
My friend my friend
She sent us little silver gifts
Oh yes she did
Oh what a rare
And happy pair
She inevitably said
As she glanced
At my unmade bed
She admired
My unmade bed


She was my friend
My friend my friend
I thought her motives were sincere
Oh yes I did
Ah but this lass it came to pass
Had a dark and different plan
She admired my own sweet man
She admired my own sweet man

We were friends
Oh yes we were
And she just took him from my life
Oh yes she did
So young and vain
She brought me pain
But I'm wise enough to say
She will leave him
One thoughtless day
She'll just leave him
And go away oh yes

And of course she did leave Andre Previn, although he continues to defend her like others under her spell. In fact, Farrow even claims that Ronan Farrow is not even Allen’s biological son, that the at the time 71-year-old Frank Sinatra was—and he was also married, and whose widow is still alive. If true, this is a rather bizarre case of adultery. The truth of the matter is more likely that for the first time in her life, Farrow was the one being abandoned, not the other way around. She was receiving the same “medicine” she dished out to the other men in her life, and in her vindictiveness it was impossible for her to “relate”—so she resorted to the usual things that vindictive women do.