The adopted daughter of Mia Farrow and Woody Allen has come forward with allegations that she was sexually abused as a child.
In an open letter reported by NY Times, Dylan Farrow, 28, came forward describing a traumatizing event she experienced as a child in 1992.
Farrow begins the letter with an open-ended question to her readers: “What’s your favorite Woody Allen movie?”
She then leads into a very descriptive story of her life growing up as a child:
“He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother’s electric train set. Then he sexually assaulted me.”
At the tender age of seven-years-old, Farrow writes that she was taken to the attic room of her home where Allen abused her:
“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.”
Farrow details how her mother even at times didn’t believe her claims against Allen. After the two split in 1992, Mia admitted Farrow into therapy where she was doubted even more.
Although Allen was never convicted, his own son believes Farrow’s story.
Missed the Woody Allen tribute – did they put the part where a woman publicly confirmed he molested her at age 7 before or after Annie Hall?
— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) January 13, 2014
On Jan. 12, Allen was the recipient of an honorary Golden Globe award. Ronan Farrow posted on Twitter his obvious ill feelings towards his father’s award.
Accusations against Allen appeared to become even more plausible amidst the reports of his relationship with Mia’s other adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn, which he married in 1997. Farrow refers to it in her letter:
“I didn’t know that my father would use his sexual relationship with my sister to cover up the abuse he inflicted on me.”
According to an article published on The Daily Beast, producer and director Robert B. Weide of “Woody Allen: A Documentary,” counterattacked the accusations against his industry friend, whose career seems to still thrive:
“I am not in a position to say they didn’t, any more than all the people on the Internet calling for Woody’s head can say they did. The point is that accusations make headlines; retractions are buried on page 12, and coerced accusations are as much a reality as coerced confessions.”
However, Farrow’s letter takes a stab at a few of Allen’s industry friends that may have been well-aware of the abuse:
“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?”
As she concludes her letter, she yet again asks a very important question:
“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?”
Allen’s reps have yet to respond.
An interview with Allen denying the accusations: