Dylan Farrow accuses Woody Allen

[Sheilbh]

As an adult and publically:

Dylan Farrow's Story
FEB. 1, 2014

Nicholas Kristof

WHEN Woody Allen received a Golden Globe award for lifetime achievement a few weeks ago, there was a lively debate about whether it was appropriate to honor a man who is an artistic giant but also was accused years ago of child molestation.

Allen's defenders correctly note that he denies the allegations, has never been convicted and should be presumed innocent. People weighed in on all sides, but one person who hasn't been heard out is Dylan Farrow, 28, the writer and artist whom Allen was accused of molesting.

Dylan, Allen's adopted daughter who is now married and living in Florida under a different name, tells me that she has been traumatized for more than two decades by what took place; last year, she was belatedly diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder. She says that when she heard of the Golden Globe award being given to Allen she curled up in a ball on her bed, crying hysterically.

With everyone else commenting, she decided to weigh in as well. (Full disclosure: I am a friend of her mother, Mia, and brother Ronan, and that's how Dylan got in touch with me.) She has written a letter that I'm posting in full on my blog, nytimes.com/ontheground. I reached out to Allen several days ago, and he declined to comment on the record.

The blogpost:

(A note from Nicholas Kristof: In 1993, accusations that Woody Allen had abused his adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow, filled the headlines, part of a sensational story about the celebrity split between Allen and his girlfriend, Mia Farrow. This is a case that has been written about endlessly, but this is the first time that Dylan Farrow herself has written about it in public. It's important to note that Woody Allen was never prosecuted in this case and has consistently denied wrongdoing; he deserves the presumption of innocence. So why publish an account of an old case on my blog? Partly because the Golden Globe lifetime achievement award to Allen ignited a debate about the propriety of the award. Partly because the root issue here isn't celebrity but sex abuse. And partly because countless people on all sides have written passionately about these events, but we haven't fully heard from the young woman who was at the heart of them. I've written a column about this, but it's time for the world to hear Dylan's story in her own words.)

What's your favorite Woody Allen movie? Before you answer, you should know: when I was seven years old, Woody Allen took me by the hand and led me into a dim, closet-like attic on the second floor of our house. He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother's electric train set. Then he sexually assaulted me. He talked to me while he did it, whispering that I was a good girl, that this was our secret, promising that we'd go to Paris and I'd be a star in his movies. I remember staring at that toy train, focusing on it as it traveled in its circle around the attic. To this day, I find it difficult to look at toy trains.

For as long as I could remember, my father had been doing things to me that I didn't like. I didn't like how often he would take me away from my mom, siblings and friends to be alone with him. I didn't like it when he would stick his thumb in my mouth. I didn't like it when I had to get in bed with him under the sheets when he was in his underwear. I didn't like it when he would place his head in my naked lap and breathe in and breathe out. I would hide under beds or lock myself in the bathroom to avoid these encounters, but he always found me. These things happened so often, so routinely, so skillfully hidden from a mother that would have protected me had she known, that I thought it was normal. I thought this was how fathers doted on their daughters. But what he did to me in the attic felt different. I couldn't keep the secret anymore.

When I asked my mother if her dad did to her what Woody Allen did to me, I honestly did not know the answer. I also didn't know the firestorm it would trigger. I didn't know that my father would use his sexual relationship with my sister to cover up the abuse he inflicted on me. I didn't know that he would accuse my mother of planting the abuse in my head and call her a liar for defending me. I didn't know that I would be made to recount my story over and over again, to doctor after doctor, pushed to see if I'd admit I was lying as part of a legal battle I couldn't possibly understand. At one point, my mother sat me down and told me that I wouldn't be in trouble if I was lying – that I could take it all back. I couldn't. It was all true. But sexual abuse claims against the powerful stall more easily. There were experts willing to attack my credibility. There were doctors willing to gaslight an abused child.

After a custody hearing denied my father visitation rights, my mother declined to pursue criminal charges, despite findings of probable cause by the State of Connecticut – due to, in the words of the prosecutor, the fragility of the "child victim." Woody Allen was never convicted of any crime. That he got away with what he did to me haunted me as I grew up. I was stricken with guilt that I had allowed him to be near other little girls. I was terrified of being touched by men. I developed an eating disorder. I began cutting myself. That torment was made worse by Hollywood. All but a precious few (my heroes) turned a blind eye. Most found it easier to accept the ambiguity, to say, "who can say what happened," to pretend that nothing was wrong. Actors praised him at awards shows. Networks put him on TV. Critics put him in magazines. Each time I saw my abuser's face – on a poster, on a t-shirt, on television – I could only hide my panic until I found a place to be alone and fall apart.

Last week, Woody Allen was nominated for his latest Oscar. But this time, I refuse to fall apart. For so long, Woody Allen's acceptance silenced me. It felt like a personal rebuke, like the awards and accolades were a way to tell me to shut up and go away. But the survivors of sexual abuse who have reached out to me – to support me and to share their fears of coming forward, of being called a liar, of being told their memories aren't their memories – have given me a reason to not be silent, if only so others know that they don't have to be silent either.

Today, I consider myself lucky. I am happily married. I have the support of my amazing brothers and sisters. I have a mother who found within herself a well of fortitude that saved us from the chaos a predator brought into our home.

But others are still scared, vulnerable, and struggling for the courage to tell the truth. The message that Hollywood sends matters for them.

What if it had been your child, Cate Blanchett? Louis CK? Alec Baldwin? What if it had been you, Emma Stone? Or you, Scarlett Johansson? You knew me when I was a little girl, Diane Keaton. Have you forgotten me?

Woody Allen is a living testament to the way our society fails the survivors of sexual assault and abuse.

So imagine your seven-year-old daughter being led into an attic by Woody Allen. Imagine she spends a lifetime stricken with nausea at the mention of his name. Imagine a world that celebrates her tormenter.

Are you imagining that? Now, what's your favorite Woody Allen movie?

[Neil]

I'm not exactly willing to take her at her word.

[katmai]

Bananas or Zelig.

[Ideologue]

Full disclosure: I am a friend of her mother, Mia, and brother Ronan

It's suspicious how he hasn't made any accusations.

[Queequeg]

I read this.  Don't think I'll be able to watch an Allen movie again.

[Sheilbh]

I read this.  Don't think I'll be able to watch an Allen movie again.

To be honest I'd never heard about these allegations until this fuss kicked off. I knew he married one of Mia's children with Previn but that was all

[Ideologue]

I read this.  Don't think I'll be able to watch an Allen movie again.

I'm pretty sure you've seen a Polanski movie in the last thirty years, and he pretty definitely did what he's been accused of.  (He pretty definitely fled justice, anyway, and pretty definitely should have been blacked out by our foreign operators for doing so, rather than being permitted to hide behind wealth and privilege and a country vastly weaker than our own.)

As for Woody Allen, I dunno.  If CT didn't pursue it, then what am I supposed to do?  What is this, the fucking Hunt?  Society is based on a few fundamental premises, and presumption of innocence is one of them.

[Razgovory]

I read this.  Don't think I'll be able to watch an Allen movie again.

You could just watch the films made before the abuse.  Actually that's probably a good idea anyway.

[Berkut]

I read this.  Don't think I'll be able to watch an Allen movie again.

I'm pretty sure you've seen a Polanski movie in the last thirty years, and he pretty definitely did what he's been accused of.  (He pretty definitely fled justice, anyway, and pretty definitely should have been blacked out by our foreign operators for doing so, rather than being permitted to hide behind wealth and privilege and a country vastly weaker than our own.)

As for Woody Allen, I dunno.  If CT didn't pursue it, then what am I supposed to do?  What is this, the fucking Hunt?  Society is based on a few fundamental premises, and presumption of innocence is one of them.

I fucking hate it when people spout of about presumption of innocence and freedom of speech in this context.

Both of those refer to freedom we have from government interference, and neither have anything to do with how we as private individuals should evaluate each other, except in the most general sense. I am not going to presume someone is innocent simply because the legal system cannot prove them guilty. There is all kind of information that is perfectly reasonable to consider as a private individual that would not be relevant or admissible in a legal setting.

Just because OK was acquitted doesn't mean he didn't murder two people. Just because there wasn't enough evidence to convict Zimmerman doesn't mean he didn't likely kill Trevon martin for no fucking good reason at all other than he had a gun and wanted to shoot someone with it.

And just because Woody Fucking Allen is too important and too big a name for there to be any chance that he could have been convicted in a case like this (and to be fair, even had he been Joe Nobody Blow a conviction would be extremely difficult in a case like this) doesn't mean I can't read a letter like that and think "What a fucking pedo-fucking douchebag asshole!"

[The Brain]

Hitler wasn't found guilty of any WW2 crimes in a court of law, so I still have his picture on the wall. It can get tiresome explaining this to visitors; people are morans.

[Ideologue]

I read this.  Don't think I'll be able to watch an Allen movie again.

I'm pretty sure you've seen a Polanski movie in the last thirty years, and he pretty definitely did what he's been accused of.  (He pretty definitely fled justice, anyway, and pretty definitely should have been blacked out by our foreign operators for doing so, rather than being permitted to hide behind wealth and privilege and a country vastly weaker than our own.)

As for Woody Allen, I dunno.  If CT didn't pursue it, then what am I supposed to do?  What is this, the fucking Hunt?  Society is based on a few fundamental premises, and presumption of innocence is one of them.

I fucking hate it when people spout of about presumption of innocence and freedom of speech in this context.

Both of those refer to freedom we have from government interference, and neither have anything to do with how we as private individuals should evaluate each other, except in the most general sense. I am not going to presume someone is innocent simply because the legal system cannot prove them guilty. There is all kind of information that is perfectly reasonable to consider as a private individual that would not be relevant or admissible in a legal setting.

Just because OK was acquitted doesn't mean he didn't murder two people. Just because there wasn't enough evidence to convict Zimmerman doesn't mean he didn't likely kill Trevon martin for no fucking good reason at all other than he had a gun and wanted to shoot someone with it.

And just because Woody Fucking Allen is too important and too big a name for there to be any chance that he could have been convicted in a case like this (and to be fair, even had he been Joe Nobody Blow a conviction would be extremely difficult in a case like this) doesn't mean I can't read a letter like that and think "What a fucking pedo-fucking douchebag asshole!"

You're a free man, Berkut.  You can feel any way you want.

I presume innocence unless I'm at least persuaded by a preponderance of the evidence, which a woman's accusation is, you know, not.

[The Brain]

I read this.  Don't think I'll be able to watch an Allen movie again.

I'm pretty sure you've seen a Polanski movie in the last thirty years, and he pretty definitely did what he's been accused of.  (He pretty definitely fled justice, anyway, and pretty definitely should have been blacked out by our foreign operators for doing so, rather than being permitted to hide behind wealth and privilege and a country vastly weaker than our own.)

As for Woody Allen, I dunno.  If CT didn't pursue it, then what am I supposed to do?  What is this, the fucking Hunt?  Society is based on a few fundamental premises, and presumption of innocence is one of them.

I fucking hate it when people spout of about presumption of innocence and freedom of speech in this context.

Both of those refer to freedom we have from government interference, and neither have anything to do with how we as private individuals should evaluate each other, except in the most general sense. I am not going to presume someone is innocent simply because the legal system cannot prove them guilty. There is all kind of information that is perfectly reasonable to consider as a private individual that would not be relevant or admissible in a legal setting.

Just because OK was acquitted doesn't mean he didn't murder two people. Just because there wasn't enough evidence to convict Zimmerman doesn't mean he didn't likely kill Trevon martin for no fucking good reason at all other than he had a gun and wanted to shoot someone with it.

And just because Woody Fucking Allen is too important and too big a name for there to be any chance that he could have been convicted in a case like this (and to be fair, even had he been Joe Nobody Blow a conviction would be extremely difficult in a case like this) doesn't mean I can't read a letter like that and think "What a fucking pedo-fucking douchebag asshole!"

You're a free man, Berkut.  You can feel any way you want.

I presume innocence unless I'm at least persuaded by a preponderance of the evidence, which a woman's accusation is, you know, not.

I'm shocked that you are quicker to judge gay pedos.

[Ed Anger]

Hitler wasn't found guilty of any WW2 crimes in a court of law, so I still have his picture on the wall. It can get tiresome explaining this to visitors; people are morans.

I love you.

[celedhring]

This is probably the closest we're gonna get for an answer from Allen's camp:

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/01/27/the-woody-allen-allegations-not-so-fast.html

It's very long, but does raise some points although doesn't really disprove the Dylan allegations. It's hard to believe she made all of this up after reading that letter in the NYT. But dunno.

As for me, I'll keep watching the films if they're good. I don't have to be Allen's friend or have any personal relationship with him (I doubt I could, I've met some people that worked for him and the stories aren't pleasant). I already consume art from some fairly reprensible human beings, anyway (including Mia Farrow's friend, mr. Roman Polanski). 

[Neil]

Then again, Dylan Farrow accusing him doesn't prove her allegations either.  As much as I don't really care about Woody Allen or his films, I just don't find his accuser credible.