Woody Allen says he’s open to reconnecting with daughter Dylan Farrow and son Ronan Farrow, from whom he has been estranged for years.
During a Sunday, September 3, interview with Variety, Allen, 87, was asked whether he’s seen Dylan, 38, or Ronan, 35, recently. “No. Always willing to, but no,” he told the outlet.
Dylan, whom Allen adopted in 1985 with former partner Mia Farrow, alleged in 1992 that Allen had molested her in Mia’s home in Bridgewater, Connecticut. Dylan was 7 years old at the time. Allen has repeatedly denied the claim while Dylan has continued to speak out about the alleged abuse as an adult, including in the 2021 HBO docuseries Allen v. Farrow.
Ronan also participated in the series and claimed during episode 4 that Allen would only pay for his college education if he publicly discredited Dylan’s claims. “The offer always stood that if I were willing to publicly go against my mother and my sister that he would offer financial support, support for my education and perhaps a comfortable life with a powerful, influential guy,” Ronan alleged.
Allen and his wife, Soon-Yi Previn, whom Mia adopted with ex-husband André Previn prior to her relationship with Allen, spoke out against the series’ claims after the first episode aired.
“These documentarians had no interest in the truth. Instead, they spent years surreptitiously collaborating with the Farrows and their enablers to put together a hatchet job riddled with falsehoods,” the pair’s team said in a statement, adding that the “allegations are categorically false.”
Allen shared similar sentiments during his recent Variety interview, saying “there was nothing” to the sexual abuse claims.
“The situation has been investigated by two people, two major bodies, not people, but two major investigative bodies. And both, after long detailed investigations, concluded there was no merit to these charges,” he told the outlet.
The filmmaker continued: “The fact that it lingers on always makes me think that maybe people like the idea that it lingers on. You know, maybe there’s something appealing to people. But why? Why? I don’t know what you can do besides having it investigated, which they did so meticulously.”
When asked whether he feels like he’s been “canceled,” Allen, who earned a lengthy standing ovation when his film Coup de Chance premiered at the Venice International Film Festival on Monday, replied, “I feel if you’re going to be canceled, this is the culture to be canceled by. I just find that all so silly. I don’t think about it. I don’t know what it means to be canceled.”
In addition to Dylan and Ronan, Allen is father of son Moses, 45, whom he adopted with Mia, and daughters Bechet, 24, and Manzie, 23, whom he adopted with Previn, 52.
Allen and Previn’s relationship has also been a source of controversy over the years. Although Allen claimed in his 2020 memoir, Apropos of Nothing, that he first kissed Previn when she was a college freshman, Mia alleged in Allen v. Farrow that the relationship began when Previn was in high school.
“She would be in her school uniform at lunch,” Mia claimed. “They would change the bed after she left.”
Mia added that when she discovered the relationship, she didn’t blame her adopted daughter. “She was just a little kid when he came into the family. She was just a little girl,” she said. “We were family and he was in my home as my partner and as such, he had responsibilities, you know? You don’t get to have sex with my children. That wasn’t part of the deal.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
