Woody Allen sexual abuse allegation
In August 1992, American filmmaker and actor Woody Allen was alleged by actress Mia Farrow to have sexually molested their adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow, then aged seven, in Mia Farrow's home in Bridgewater, Connecticut. Allen has repeatedly denied the allegation, which was investigated and dismissed by both the judge in the custody case and New York Social Services. In Connecticut it was investigated without charges being filed.
Allen and Mia Farrow were in a romantic relationship beginning in 1980. They had three children together: two adopted, Dylan and Moses, and one biological, Satchel. The sexual abuse was alleged to have taken place eight months after Farrow learned that Allen and Soon-Yi Previn, whom Farrow adopted with her former husband André Previn, had begun a sexual relationship in December 1991. Allen has alleged that his relationship with Previn prompted Farrow to concoct the molestation allegation as an act of vengeance.
The Connecticut State's Attorney investigated the molestation allegation but did not press charges, saying a trial would be "questionable" and "fertile ground for defense attacks" and citing the New York Supreme Court's decision to not give credence to the allegation. During the investigation the Connecticut State Police referred Dylan to the Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of Yale–New Haven Hospital, which concluded that Allen had not sexually abused Dylan and that Mia Farrow had probably coached or influenced the allegation. The New York Department of Social Services found "no credible evidence" to support the allegation. In response to the allegation, Allen sued Farrow for sole custody of Dylan, Satchel, and Moses. He lost the case in June 1993, though the judge agreed that the allegation of sexual abuse had not been proven and the preponderance of the evidence indicated no abuse. Visitations with Dylan were to be resumed within six months, as soon as Dylan had recovered from what she had suffered during the initial custody case, while Allen was given limited, supervised visitation with Satchel; Moses, a teenager, was allowed to decide for himself. The decision was upheld on appeal in 1994 and 1995.
Dylan has repeated the allegation several times as an adult, although with modifications of Mia's 1992 narrative. Her first public comment was in an interview with Maureen Orth for Vanity Fair in 2013, followed by an open letter in the New York Times in 2014 and a Los Angeles Times op-ed in December 2017. Allen has also spoken publicly about the allegation, in a New York Times op-ed and in 2018 in a statement to CBS News, each time denying it, and referring to the unanimous conclusions of multiple judicial investigations that exonerated him. Mia has been accused of child abuse by two of her children, Moses and Soon-Yi, who have also accused her of false allegations and of "brainwashing" Dylan. In a 2018 letter posted online, Moses, who was 14 at the time of the allegations, wrote that he felt a responsibility "as the man of the house" to watch Dylan and others carefully the afternoon she was allegedly molested, and explained in detail why he believes the allegation is false. He called his coerced support of Mia the biggest mistake of his life. He tweeted, "So many times I saw my mother try to convince her that she was abused—and it has worked."
Background
Allen and Farrow
Woody Allen and Mia Farrow began a romantic relationship in 1980. Farrow also starred in 13 of his films. They maintained separate apartments in Manhattan throughout their relationship—Farrow on Central Park West and Allen on Fifth Avenue—and did not marry; both had been married twice before.When the relationship began, Farrow had seven children: three biological sons from her marriage to composer André Previn; three adopted girls ; and one adopted Korean boy, Moses. In July 1985 she adopted Dylan Farrow from Texas. Allen was not involved in the adoption, but when Dylan arrived he assumed a parental role with her and began spending more time in Farrow's home. He and Farrow went to Europe several times with the Farrow–Previn children between 1987 and 1989, although the judicial investigation concluded that "he remained aloof from Ms. Farrow's other children except for Moses, to whom he was cordial."
In December 1987 Farrow gave birth to Allen's biological son, Satchel. Farrow wanted to adopt another child in 1991; Allen said he would not take "a lousy attitude toward it" so long as she agreed to his adoption of Dylan and Moses, and in October that year she adopted another Vietnamese child. Allen's adoption of Dylan and Moses was finalized on December 17, 1991.
According to her testimony during the custody trial, Farrow became concerned about Allen's behavior toward Dylan in 1987–88. She reportedly told Allen that he was giving Dylan too much attention and failing to give her "breathing room". Allen had allegedly read to Dylan while in his underwear, allowed her to suck his thumb, and would sit on her bed in the morning waiting for her to wake up. On one occasion, Dylan allegedly locked herself in the bathroom for four hours when Allen arrived; he had an employee pick the lock with a coat hanger. Farrow later testified that she found Allen's relationship with Dylan at this time "relentless and overpowering", with "a wooing quality"; but in 1990 she changed her will so that in the event of her death Allen would have custody of her minor children. Furthermore, in 1991, she made an affidavit to the judge promoting Allen's adoption of Dylan and Moses, praising especially Allen's qualities as Dylan's father: "Mr. Allen is a loving, caring, attentive parent to Dylan and she can only benefit from having him as an adoptive father".
Farrow testified that she told her therapist that she feared Allen "would abuse Satchel" and that she worried that Allen had a sexual relationship "with another man". The family psychologist, Susan Coates, witnessed some of Allen's behavior and testified during the 1993 custody trial that she saw it not as sexual but as "inappropriately intense because it excluded everybody else". Farrow had instructed babysitters not to be alone with Allen. Allen later said he had given Dylan extra attention to compensate for the time Farrow was spending with the newborn Satchel. Journalist Maureen Orth wrote in Vanity Fair that Allen agreed in 1990 to discuss the issue in "counseling", but at the trial Coates testified that Allen was not in therapy with her and that her contact with both parents was part of their children's therapy. Coates praised Allen's commitment to fathering and desire to improve as a father, but he was not in therapy for inappropriate behavior with Dylan or for any other problems.
Relationship with Previn
According to Allen, he began a romantic relationship with Soon-Yi Previn in late December 1991. In August 1992, Farrow told her lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, that Previn had told her that her relationship with Allen had begun on December 1, 1991. Later, Farrow alleged that the relationship began while Previn was in her final year of high school, from which she graduated in June 1991. Farrow also alleged that Dylan saw Allen and Previn on a bed together in the summer or autumn of 1991. During the Farrow-Allen custody battle, an appellate court found that the sexual relationship between Allen and Previn had begun in December 1991. The timing of the relationship was relevant in part because Farrow unsuccessfully attempted to have Allen's adoption of Dylan and Moses voided after the molestation allegation on the grounds that his relationship with Previn had begun before the adoptions were finalized on December 17, 1991.File:Soon Yi Previn and Woody Allen at the Tribeca Film Festival.jpg|thumb|left|Soon-Yi Previn and Woody Allen, 2009
On January 13, 1992, Farrow found nude Polaroid photographs of Previn on the mantel in Allen's home. At the time, Previn was a first-year student at Drew University. Allen, then 56, told Farrow that he had taken the photographs the day before, and that he and Previn had first had sex in the last week of December 1991. Allen told a court in 1993 that he regarded the images as erotic but not pornographic; the appellate court said that it did not "share Mr. Allen's characterization" of the photographs.
The discovery shocked the family, but Farrow did not stop Allen from visiting her home and she completed her work on Husbands and Wives, the last film of his in which she appears. According to Farrow, Allen said his relationship with Previn was over. Farrow said that Allen asked her to issue a joint press release confirming that there was no relationship between Allen and Previn and that she refused.
Allen and Previn remained in contact; in July 1992 she lost her job as a summer camp counselor in Maine after spending too much time on the telephone with a "Mr. Simon", who turned out to be Allen. Allen said that when he visited Connecticut to celebrate Dylan's birthday, Farrow left a note on a door in which she called him a "child molester now focused on youngest daughter", meaning Dylan. On August 1, 1992, according to Coates's testimony, Farrow telephoned Coates to say she had learned that Soon-Yi and Allen were still in a relationship; Farrow was distressed and told Coates that, just a week earlier, she and Allen had talked about getting married. "Ms. Farrow described Mr. Allen as 'satanic and evil'", Coates said, adding that Farrow pleaded with her to "find a way to stop him".
Allen publicly announced his relationship with Previn on August 17, 1992. Later that month, Previn said that Allen had never been a father figure to her and that they had become friendly long after his romance with Farrow had ended. Allen later acknowledged "that at the time he was 'still in some version of a relationship with' Farrow even though they had 'just been going through the motions'". As Allen and Farrow had never married, and as Allen had never adopted Previn, the relationship between Allen and Previn was not illegal.
Allen's relationship with Previn became a scandal. It catalyzed "tabloid headlines and late-night monologues in August 1992", in part due to the allegation that Allen had sexually abused Dylan Farrow.
Allen married Previn in Venice on December 23, 1997.