So what about Woody Allen?
Farrow’s allegations
Reports alleging Allen molested Farrow when she was a child made headlines in 1992 as part of the celebrity coverage of Allen’s split from his girlfriend, Mia Farrow. While Dylan Farrow herself first wrote about the alleged abuse in an open letter published in the New York Times in 2014, she wrote in the L.A. Times op-ed that she “told the truth to the authorities then, and I have been telling it, unaltered, for more than 20 years.”
Farrow alleges that when she was 7 years old, Allen led her away from babysitters who had been told not to leave her alone with him and into an attic, where he sexually assaulted her. She accused him of putting his thumb in her mouth and climbing into bed with her in his underwear, and said the behavior was witnessed by friends and family members. Farrow said three eyewitnesses supported her claims, including a babysitter who saw Allen’s head buried in her lap after he had removed her underwear.
Farrow said Allen refused to take a polygraph. Although a Connecticut state’s attorney in 1993 said he had “probable cause” to prosecute Allen, he ultimately did not file charges, choosing to spare the young girl of “the trauma of a court appearance,” according to the New York Times.
“It is a testament to Allen’s public relations team and his lawyers that few know these simple facts,” she wrote. “It also speaks to the forces that have historically protected men like Allen: the money and power deployed to make the simple complicated, to massage the story.”
Allen’s response
The director has long denied the allegations and declined to comment on the op-ed before its publication.
Actors continue to work with Allen
When the accusations first made headlines in the early 1990s, some predicted Allen’s career would collapse. In 2014, after Farrow wrote an open letter about the alleged abuse, several stars were quiet or neutral on the subject.
Allen’s latest movie, a 1950s-set drama titled “Wonder Wheel,” was released Dec. 1. It stars Kate Winslet, who told Variety in the days after the Weinstein allegations broke that the fact that women began speaking out about his sexual abuse was “incredibly brave.”
But when asked by the New York Times about the accusations against Allen, and whether she considered them before accepting the “Wonder Wheel” role, Winslet said she “didn’t know Woody and I don’t know anything about that family.”
“As the actor in the film, you just have to step away and say, I don’t know anything, really, and whether any of it is true or false,” she said. “Having thought it all through, you put it to one side and just work with the person.”
Her response fell in line with what many actors who enjoy working with Allen but who wish to separate themselves from the allegations have said.
Farrow wrote that she feels disappointed when women and men she admire work with Allen and then deflect questions about the accusations.
