Soon-Yi Previn, wife of filmmaker Woody Allen, has weighed in on the controversy surrounding her husband and his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow and ex-partner Mia Farrow in a story published online Sunday on New York Magazine’s website Vulture.
“I was never interested in writing a Mommie Dearest, getting even with Mia — none of that,” Previn said in the story. “But 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.”
Dylan told Vulture in a statement that any implication she was manipulated by mom Mia was “offensive.”
“This only serves to revictimize me,” Dylan said. “Thanks to my mother, I grew up in a wonderful home.”
Dylan’s brother Ronan, one of her strongest supporters, issued the following statement in response to the story: “I owe everything I am to Mia Farrow. She is a devoted mom who went through hell for her family all while creating a loving home for us. 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. As a brother and a son, I’m angry that New York Magazine would participate in this kind of a hit job, written by a longtime admirer and friend of Woody Allen’s. As a journalist, I’m shocked by the lack of care for the facts, the refusal to include eyewitness testimony that would contradict falsehoods in this piece, and the failure to include my sister’s complete responses. Survivors of abuse deserve better.”
The Vulture story was written by Daphne Merkin, who notes in the piece that she’s been friends with Allen for more than 40 years. An online search yields several stories detailing her close relationship with the filmmaker over the years, noting on her website that her first fan letter was from Allen, telling the New York Times that he once offered her his therapist and telling the New York Post that they “share our Holocaust books.” She also gushes over Allen in her book The Fame Lunches, noting that she wrote him a letter in her early 20s and that “I had fixed on [Allen] as my alter ego” and that “he was the perfect non-celebrity for a non-groupie like me.”
New York Magazine spokesperson Lauren Starke defended the story earlier in the day, saying: “Soon-Yi Previn is telling her story for the first time, and we hope people will withhold judgment until they have read the feature. Daphne Merkin’s relationship to Woody Allen is disclosed and is a part of the story, as is Soon-Yi’s reason for speaking out now. I would add that Daphne approached Soon-Yi about doing this piece, not vice-versa. We reached out to both Mia and Dylan Farrow for comment; Dylan chose to speak through her representative. The story is transparent about being told from Soon-Yi’s point of view.”
Later Sunday, Starke added: “This is a story about Soon-Yi Previn, and puts forward her perspective on what happened in her family. We believe she is entitled to be heard. Daphne Merkin’s relationship to Woody Allen is disclosed and is a part of the story, as is Soon-Yi’s reason for speaking out now. We hope people will read it for themselves.”
In an op-ed for the Los Angeles Times in December, Dylan accused Allen of sexually molesting her as a child. Allen has denied those claims and an investigation in 1993 found that he had not sexually assaulted her. But at a 1993 custody ruling, a judge said that while “we will probably never know what occurred on August 4, 1992 … Mr. Allen’s behavior toward Dylan was grossly inappropriate and … measures must be taken to protect her.” Dylan was removed from Allen’s custody.
(Excerpt) Read more in: The Hollywood Reporter