Woody Allen responds to Dylan Farrow’s molestation claims

Woody Allen has responded to molestation accusations made by his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow, insisting the claims are the result of a vindictive campaign by his former partner Mia Farrow. Dylan Farrow repeated claims she first made in 1992 in a blog post published by the New York Times last week (01Feb14), suggesting the Hollywood director sexually abused her when she was seven years old.
Allen’s representatives have insisted the claims are false, and the filmmaker himself has now responded to the allegations in a piece also published by the New York Times.
The Annie Hall director suggests Dylan’s accusations are the result of a campaign of psychological coaching by her adopted mother Mia, alleging the actress wanted revenge over Allen’s romantic involvement with her other adopted daughter, 19-year-old Soon-Yi Previn, who he married in 1997.
Allen writes, “Not that I doubt Dylan hasn’t come to believe she’s been molested, but if from the age of seven a vulnerable child is taught by a strong mother to hate her father because he is a monster who abused her, is it so inconceivable that after many years of this indoctrination the image of me Mia wanted to establish had taken root?”
He continues, “Of course, I did not molest Dylan. I loved her and hope one day she will grasp how she has been cheated out of having a loving father and exploited by a mother more interested in her own festering anger than her daughter’s well-being.”
Allen cites an investigation conducted by experts when the claims were first made 21 years ago, which reported, “It is our expert opinion that Dylan was not sexually abused by Mr. Allen”.
The report also suggested Dylan’s claims were not based on actual events.
Allen to goes on insist he had never been suspected of child abuse before his split from Farrow and suggest the claim he abused his daughter in the cramped attic room of his former partner’s house is undermined by his claustrophobia.
Dylan has already responded to the piece, saying in a statement release through her spokesman, “Nothing he says or writes can change the truth.”