Woody Allen has insisted once again he never molested his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow following her first televised interview over the claims.
In the early ’90s, Dylan’s mother Mia Farrow accused her ex-partner of allegedly abusing Dylan, who was seven at the time. The filmmaker has always denied the allegations and has never been charged with a crime.
The accusations have continued to hit headlines ever since Dylan publicly renewed the claims in 2014, especially recently, when Dylan began calling out actors supporting the Time’s Up and #MeToo movements, which tackles sexual abuse and harassment, despite appearing in Allen’s movies.
Her first televised interview about the claims aired on CBS This Morning on Thursday (18Jan18), and Allen responded with a statement to CBS News, stating that the allegations were thoroughly investigated by two organizations for months and they concluded no molestation had taken place and suggested Dylan was coached by her mother to tell the story.
“Dylan’s older brother Moses has said that he witnessed their mother doing exactly that – relentlessly coaching Dylan, trying to drum into her that her father was a dangerous sexual predator,” he said. “It seems to have worked – and, sadly, I’m sure Dylan truly believes what she says.
“But even though the Farrow family is cynically using the opportunity afforded by the Time’s Up movement to repeat this discredited allegation, that doesn’t make it any more true today than it was in the past. I never molested my daughter – as all investigations concluded a quarter of a century ago.”
During the interview, Dylan, now 32, denied the coaching theory, and she replied, “What I don’t understand is how is this crazy story about me being brainwashed and coached is more believable than me being sexually assaulted by my father… Every step of the way, my mother has told me to tell the truth. She has never coached me.”
She recounted the time the director allegedly touched her “private parts” and said she wishes the prosecutor had filed charges against him. When shown footage of Allen, who was her “hero”, denying the allegations in 1993, Dylan broke down in tears and said, “I thought I could handle it … He’s lying, and he’s been lying for so long and it is difficult for me to see him and to hear his voice. I’m sorry.”
When asked how she feels about those who doubt her, Dylan said she wasn’t angry with them before adding, “I have been repeating my accusations, unaltered, for over 20 years, and I have been systematically shut down, ignored or discredited… It’s a family matter, but I’m a real person. It’s affected every part of my life.”
