Woody Allen may be one of the most celebrated filmmakers of our times, but all of that fame
and attention hasn't been enough to shield him from controversy.
In fact, his once-prestigious position high up on the Hollywood ladder has only made his
personal problems that much worse.
And while the Annie Hall director was once universally applauded by critics and fans
alike, his career and reputation have been on a steady downhill trajectory for years
now.
But he has one message for the world as he continues on despite a string of unsavory
accusations that have tarnished his image.
Woody Allen doesn't care what you think about him.
And he's not about to let his ex-lover Mia Farrow, nor the rumor mill
and gossip rags hold him back from doing what he loves.
That being said, he hasn't done much in the way of defending himself from those eyebrow-raising
accusations.
And it hasn't just been the tabloids that have accused him of wrongdoing.
Join FactsVerse as we take a closer look at some of the most scandalous complaints that
have been leveled against the octogenarian film star.
While we could certainly do a whole video covering these unbecoming claims, we'll also
be spending a significant portion of this one reflecting on Wood Allen's emphatic denial
of what has been said about him.
Woody's Early Life Lessons
When he was just 20 years old and just getting started in show business, writer Danny Simon
taught young Woody Allen a few rules about comedy that he has since never forgotten – the
most important being, always trust your judgment, because all external opinions are essentially
meaningless.
While back then, Woody was basically a nobody just getting his footing in the entertainment
industry, today his name has been thoroughly run through the mud despite the fact that
he's the man behind some of the most critically acclaimed comedy films of the 20th century.
For the last two decades or so, there is really only thing that critics and the public think
about when discussing Allen.
Sure, his films like 1979s Manhattan and 1980s Stardust Memories come to mind, but nobody
seems interested in discussing those at this point.
It seems to be one of those cases when the artist and their artwork are two distinct
things.
It's undeniable that Allen is an influential and downright genius filmmaker, but his personal
character leaves much to be desired.
Mia Farrow's Molestation Accusation
In 1992, it came to light that Allen, who was then 57, was having an affair with Soon-Yi
Previn, who was just 21 years old at the time.
While that in and of itself wouldn't be that shocking – especially in Hollywood where
enormous age gaps in relationships are business as usual – what made this particular situation
so unusual was how Previn was the adopted daughter of Allen and his long-term partner,
Mia Farrow.
During Wood and Mia's predictably messy breakup, Farrow accused Woody of sexually assaulting
their 7-year-old adopted daughter, Dylan.
It's worth mentioning that Allen and Farrow also adopted a son named Moses and had a biological
son named Satchel, who has since taken on the name Ronan.
By the time of this accusation, Farrow also had six other children of her own – Soon-Yi
included.
According to reports from that time, in addition to accusing Woody of sexually assaulting Dylan,
Farrow also testified that she believed Allen was homosexual and thus he might be inclined
to abuse Satchel as well.
While being gay certainly doesn't mean someone is any more likely to commit these kinds of
egregious acts, Farrow evidently believed there was some sort of correlation.
A source close to Mia's family now denies that she ever feared Allen was gay or that
he would molest Satchel.
Allen has since told reporters that he believed from day one that people would have seen these
accusations as 'laughable rubbish', so he never really took them that seriously back
then.
In the 1990s, It was mainly Allen's affair with his stepdaughter Soon-Yi that people
considered to be scandalous, but in recent years after Ronan and Dylan have publicly
spoken out again their father while Moses and Soon-yi have come to his defense, attention
has instead pivoted to the molestation claims.
In 2014, Dylan told the New York Times that Allen is a prime example of the way that society
'fails the survivors of sexual abuse''.
Two years later, Ronan told the Hollywood Reporter that even though Allen had never
been convicted of any crime, that didn't give the press a free pass to silence victims or
fail to take their allegations seriously.
Obviously, there is much more awareness in today's world of the prevalence of sexual
abuse than back in the 90s.
Likewise, the public has grown increasingly afraid of being on the 'wrong end of history.
These days, if you were to question a victim's story, you'd be viewed as being a rape apologist.
As such, these old allegations against Woody Allen have been given more power than they
had in the past.
Allen's name regularly gets lumped in with other entertainment industry figures such
as Bill Cosby and Harvey Weinstein who have experienced extreme falls from grace over
their sexual assault allegations and subsequent convictions.
While these two men and other infamous alleged offenders such as R. Kelly, Jeffrey Epstein,
and even Michael Jackson all have been accused of assaulting multiple victims thus forming
a pattern of predatory behavior spanning their entire lifetimes, Allen has only been accused
of one instance of molestation and was never convicted of any such crime.
You would think then that Woody would sue outlets like the New York Times for referring
to him as 'monster' alongside villainous scum like Weinstein and Epstein.
So, why hasn't he taken such action?
Allen Doesn't Care What People Say About Him
Woody says that it simply wouldn't serve him to sue.
He doesn't want to become as he calls it "tabloid fodder" for years on end by taking his complaints
to court.
On top of that, he claims rather frankly to not care what the media thinks about him.
In his latest memoir, Apropos of Nothing, Allen insists that the accusation of him being
some kind of predator is merely a 'small part of the story'.
But you wouldn't get that impression by reading the book.
The way that he describes the fallout from his breakup with Farrow reads a lot like someone
that cares quite a bit.
When you read how Allen talks about the events of 1992, you get the impression that he was
shocked and greatly disturbed by the accusation.
He discusses at great length his frustration with 'well-meaning citizens' fueled with 'moral
indignation' who were eager to take a stand on an issue that they 'knew nothing about'.
In 2020, several prominent actors who had worked with Allen after the initial scandal
but before the public had its change of heart about him, including Greta Gerwig, Rebecca
Hall, Mira Sorvino, and Colin Firth, came out and expressed deep remorse for having
chosen to continue working with.
Other stars who have refused to denounce him, such as Alan Alda, Alec Baldwin, and Larry
David, have been publicly shamed for not jumping aboard the 'cancel Woody Allen' bandwagon.
Allen has since called the trend of actors who had worked with previously denouncing
him as 'silly'.
He also thinks that the world needs to listen to the testimony of those who worked in his
home back in 1992.
One of these individuals, Monica Thompson, worked as a Nanny who provided care for Farrow
and Allen's children.
Thompson gave the court two sworn affidavits claiming that Farrow had tried to pressure
her into backing the molestation chargers.
She instead claimed that Allen was the 'better parent' and insisted that everything that
Farrow was saying about him wasn't true.
Looking At The Facts
After Mia Farrow alleged that Allen molested Dylan in their home in Connecticut, doctors
who examined the girl found no evidence that indicated abuse.
Allen then was investigated by Yale New Haven Hospital's sexual abuse clinic as well as
New York's Child Welfare Administration.
Yale concluded that Dylan had not been molested by Allen and the New York Child Welfare Administration
reaffirmed this by saying after a lengthy 14-month investigation of the facts that no
credible evidence was found that Dylan had been abused.
The Yale New Haven report even included a statement by Dr. John Leventhal, who headed
the investigation, indicating that Dylan's statements seemed to be rehearsed.
Leventhal further theorized that she had been coached by her mother.
In 2018, Dylan denied this, however, by saying that her mother only ever encouraged her to
'tell the truth'.
That same year though Moses seemed to give Leventhal's hypothesis credence by saying
that he had been 'brainwashed' by Farrow and that he had to follow his mother's script
in order to prove his loyalty.
Some claim that Leventhal never actually interviewed Dylan, but according to publicly available
reports, she had been interviewed nine times over a period of six months by two social
workers that were members of Leventhal's team.
In the 30 years since Allen was accused of molestation, many of the facts of the case
have been marred by public opinion and what people think they know about what transpired.
Unfortunately, almost everything that people believe about the case is inaccurate.
For one thing, it's been said that Allen had received therapy sessions for 'inappropriate'
feelings that he had towards Dylan.
Furthermore, it's been implied that these feelings were sexual in nature.
Allen, of course, adamantly denies these claims.
Court records seem to back Allen up on this matter.
A child psychologist named Susan Coates, who had evaluated Dylan and treated Satchel, only
described Dylan and Allen's relationship as 'inappropriately intense' – denying that
it was in any form sexual or romantic.
Coates felt like it was only inappropriate in the way that Allen emotionally neglected
Farrow's older children, instead focusing almost exclusively on baby Dylan.
Dr. Kathryn Prescott, Allen's therapist of the last two decades, reaffirmed this position
when she testified that there had never been any indication that her client had suffered
from sexual perversion or deviant sexual behavior.
At the end of the day, Farrow's claims have been impossible to prove and no evidence has
ever come forward to suggest that Woody Allen had ever actually molested his daughter.
That being said, he did end up losing his custody battle with Farrow, and the judge
that presided over that case seemed to think that Allen's relationship with Soon-Yi was
grossly inappropriate.
Do you think that Woody Allen is the monstrous sexual predator that the media has made him
out to be or do you think that he is innocent and has been unfairly treated?
Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.
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