Woody Allen Mia Farrow Mess

We don’t usually agree with much of what actor Alec Baldwin has to say, but we have to agree with him concerning the fallout of the letter that Dylan Farrow published (NY Times 2/1/14), renewing allegations of molestation at the hands of her stepfather, Woody Allen. Additionally, Dylan spoke to her sense of betrayal because Hollywood continues to lionize the “Annie Hall” director, specifically pointing a finger at several actors, including Alec Baldwin. The backlash on his twitter prompted Baldwin to tweet (in part): “You are mistaken if you think there is a place for me, or any outsider, in this family’s issue.”

Since then, Woody Allen, through his attorney, has called the allegations against him “untrue and disgraceful” and places the blame squarely on his former partner, Mia Farrow, saying that she planted this false memory in then 7-year-old Dylan’s mind in an effort to repay him for falling in love with Farrow’s adopted daughter, Soon-Yi.

Another adopted child, Moses Farrow, has decided to speak out, siding with Woody Allen, and depicting Mia Farrow as an unstable woman perfectly capable of manipulating and terrorizing her children. Mia Farrow and her son Ronan, who is in her camp, have been tweeting about the whole thing ever since the NY Times letter appeared.

Not too long ago, Mia Farrow suggested to the press that Ronan’s father, although officially Woody Allen, could have been Frank Sinatra. Farrow married Ol’ Blue Eyes when she was 21 and he was 50. They divorced two years later, but she claimed they continued to sleep together even during her years with Allen. Sinatra’s widow, Barbara, has dismissed these reports as “a bunch of junk.” That doesn’t do much to help Farrow’s credibility.

The fact that Woody Allen had an affair with Farrow’s adopted daughter, Soon Yi, (roughly 30 years his junior) does not do much to help Allen’s credibility, even though he later married Soon Yi.

Rare is the person who has never told a lie, but the bottom line here is the only ones who know who is lying are Allen and Farrow. We do not discount Dylan’s memories, but Allen has managed to do just that, claiming she is not lying in the sense that she truly believes something that didn’t happen really happened and that, he says, is Mia Farrow’s fault.

Lies can have some far-reaching repercussions even decades after they’ve been told. Dylan’s response to her brother Moses? “My brother is dead to me.”

UPDATE: 2/7/2014 – Woody Allen Speaks Out The film director has published his own open letter in the New York Times, defending himself against his adopted daughter, Dylan’s letter and straight up blaming the whole situation on Mia Farrow who he depicts as “malevolent.” Allen touches on all the points mentioned above, pointing out the huge age gap between Farrow and Sinatra, as if to say she has no room to talk about him and Soon-Yi. Sinatra, of course, was not Farrow’s de facto stepfather for many years before they fell in love and sailed on to the sea of matrimony. Allen added just about anything he could think of to make Farrow look evil and unbalanced. He even managed to get in a reference to Farrow “insidiously stealing” Dory Previn’s husband in conjunction with his theory of how the attic was chosen for the molestation scene. The one thing that was conspicuously absent was any acknowledgment that rage was a perfectly normal emotion for Farrow to feel when she learned of his relationship with Soon Yi. (Something that Judge Elliott Wilk noted in his lengthy ruling against Allen in one custody bid). She would have experienced rage even if Allen had been man enough to tell her about his relationship with Soon-Yi himself. In his open letter, Allen said this was the one and only time that he would respond to this situation and would not answer any questions about it henceforth, either personally or through his representatives.

So what’s next? An open letter in the New York Times from Mia Farrow?

No, Dylan Farrow responded to Allen’s letter by telling US Magazine “”His op-ed is the latest rehash of the same legalese, distortions, and outright lies he has leveled at me for the past 20 years,” and pointing out all the places that she says he distorts the facts of the case. “Woody Allen has an arsenal of lawyers and publicists but the one thing he does not have on his side is the truth. I hope this is the end of his vicious attacks and of the media campaign by his lawyers and publicists, as he’s promised. I won’t let the truth be buried and I won’t be silenced,” she said.