While I have never been a big fan of National Public Radio, I recently heard about an interview that forced me to tune in. Sam Fragoso sat down for a tell-all interview in which Woody Allen spoke freely on a variety of topics, including his marriage to Soon-Yi Previn. Never having taken the time to educate myself about Allen's life beyond the movies he made, I thought it interesting for any man's comments about his wife to make a NPR piece sound so juicy. What I found, thanks to some googling, was a terrible secret that no one in the media seems to be making a big deal about.
Woody Allen was once regarded as his current wife's step-father. Yes, you read that sentence correctly. Woody Allen was romantically involved with Previn's adoptive mother, Mia Farrow. Their relationship went so far that Allen adopted two of her children. To quote the chilling article in "Vanity Fair" 1992, "Mia Farrow believed Allen to be a father figure to nine of her 11 children, not just to Satchel and the two he had adopted." Imagine her shock when she discovered he was having an affair with her adopted daughter Soon-Yi. Not to mention him being accused of sexually abusing her other daughter, Dylan Farrow. While this personal drama was going on in the public eye, people were still seeing his movies. He was still a beloved director, and even today stars left and right are saying how lucky they are to be working with him.
This is information open and available to the public; anyone with access to the internet can even find it on his Wikipedia page. You can read the interviews with Mia Farrow or even the Open Letter from Dylan Farrow The opening line alone sends shock waves. "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."
He has not served any time for this. In addition to these past indiscretions that are discrete in no way, shape, or form, Allen is today married to Soon-Yi. According to the NPR interview, Allen has "lucked out in [his] last relationship." "[He's] been married now for 20 years, and it's been good," this mostly due to their "paternal" dynamic. Again, you read that correctly. Allen believes his wife responds well to his paternal manner with her. "I think that was probably the odd factor that I'm so much older than the girl I married. I'm 35 years older, and somehow, through no fault of mine or hers, the dynamic worked. I was paternal. She responded to someone paternal." It doesn't get any creepier than that folks.
Simply put, Allen should not be heralded the way he is, with this ghastly horror in his past. People need to be talking about this fact, and most definitely this NPR interview, a lot more. Shock and dismay can be the only words I find now that I know the truth behind Woody Allen's personal life. Shocked mostly, by this information, notoriety, and my lack of knowledge on the subject. An elephant in the room we don't want to touch, perhaps? But how can such a disturbing act be so casually shrugged off by the media? I encourage everyone to think twice before proclaiming their favorite Woody Allen movie in the future. I know I will.
