Lena Farrow Popular Books

Lena Farrow Biography & Facts

In August 1992, American filmmaker and actor Woody Allen was alleged by his adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow, then aged seven, to have sexually molested her in the home of her adoptive mother, actress Mia Farrow, in Bridgewater, Connecticut. Allen has repeatedly denied the allegation. When the allegation was made, Allen and Mia Farrow had been in a 12-year relationship and had three children together: two adopted, Dylan and Moses, and one biological, Satchel (now known as Ronan Farrow). The sexual abuse is alleged to have taken place eight months after Farrow learned that Allen had a sexual relationship with another of her adoptive daughters, Soon-Yi Previn, who married Allen in 1997; Previn was a first-year undergraduate and 21 years old when Farrow eventually found out about the relationship. Allen alleged that the relationship prompted Farrow to concoct the molestation allegation as an act of vengeance. The Connecticut State's Attorney investigated the allegation but did not press charges. The Connecticut State Police referred Dylan to the Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of Yale–New Haven Hospital, which concluded that Allen had not sexually abused Dylan and the allegation was probably coached or influenced by Mia Farrow. The New York Department of Social Services found "no credible evidence" to support the allegation. In response to the allegation, Allen sued Farrow for sole custody of Dylan, Satchel, and Moses. He lost the case in June 1993, though the judge agreed that the allegation of sexual abuse had not been proven. Visitations with Dylan were suspended for six months until she recovered from what she had suffered during the initial custody case, while Allen was given limited, supervised visitation with Satchel; Moses, a teenager, was allowed to decide for himself. The decision was upheld on appeal in 1994 and 1995. Dylan has repeated the allegation several times as an adult, although with modifications of Mia's 1992 narrative. Her first public comment was in an interview with Maureen Orth for Vanity Fair in 2013, followed by an open letter in the New York Times in 2014 and a Los Angeles Times op-ed in December 2017. Allen has also spoken publicly about the allegation, in a New York Times op-ed and in 2018 in a statement to CBS News, each time denying it. Mia is accused of child abuse by two of her children, Moses and Soon-Yi, who also accuse her of false allegations and of "brainwashing" Dylan. In a 2018 letter, Moses, who felt in charge of carefully watching Dylan the afternoon she was allegedly molested and who was 14 at the time, explains in detail why he believes the allegation is false and describes his forced support of Mia as the biggest mistake of his life. He tweeted, "So many times I saw my mother try to convince her that she was abused—and it has worked." Background Allen and Farrow Woody Allen and Mia Farrow began a 12-year relationship in 1980, during which Farrow starred in 13 of his films. They maintained separate apartments in Manhattan throughout the relationship—Farrow on Central Park West and Allen on Fifth Avenue—and did not marry; both had been married twice before. When the relationship began, Farrow had seven children: three biological sons from her marriage to composer André Previn; three adopted girls (two Vietnamese and one Korean, Soon-Yi Previn); and one adopted Korean boy, Moses. In July 1985 she adopted Dylan Farrow from Texas. Allen was not involved in the adoption, but when Dylan arrived he assumed a parental role with her and began spending more time in Farrow's home. He and Farrow went to Europe several times with the Farrow–Previn children between 1987 and 1989, although the judicial investigation concluded that "he remained aloof from Ms. Farrow's other children except for Moses, to whom he was cordial." In December 1987 Farrow gave birth to Allen's biological son, Satchel (later known as Ronan Farrow). Farrow wanted to adopt another child in 1991; Allen said he would not take "a lousy attitude toward it" so long as she agreed to his adoption of Dylan and Moses, and in October that year she adopted another Vietnamese child. Allen's adoption of Dylan and Moses was finalized on December 17, 1991. According to her testimony during the custody trial, Farrow became concerned about Allen's behavior toward Dylan in 1987–88. She reportedly told Allen that he was giving Dylan too much attention and failing to give her "breathing room". Allen had allegedly read to Dylan while in his underwear, allowed her to suck his thumb, and would sit on her bed in the morning waiting for her to wake up. On one occasion, Dylan allegedly locked herself in the bathroom for four hours when Allen arrived; he had an employee pick the lock with a coat hanger. Farrow later testified that she found Allen's relationship with Dylan at this time "relentless and overpowering", with "a wooing quality"; but in 1990 she changed her will so that in the event of her death Allen would have custody of her minor children (Dylan, Satchel and Moses). Furthermore, in 1991, she made an affidavit to the judge promoting Allen's adoption of Dylan and Moses, praising especially Allen's qualities as Dylan's father: "Mr. Allen is a loving, caring, attentive parent to Dylan and she can only benefit from having him as an adoptive father". Farrow told her therapist that she feared Allen "would abuse Satchel" and that she worried that Allen had a sexual relationship "with another man". The family psychologist, Dr. Susan Coates, witnessed some of Allen's behavior and testified during the custody trial in 1993 that she saw it not as sexual but as "inappropriately intense because it excluded everybody else". Allen said later that he had paid Dylan extra attention to compensate for the time Farrow was spending with the newborn Satchel. Journalist Maureen Orth wrote in Vanity Fair that Allen agreed in 1990 to discuss the issue in "counseling", but at the trial Coates testified that Allen was not in therapy with her and that her contact with both parents was part of their children's therapy. Coates praised Allen's commitment to fathering and desire to improve as a father, but he was not in therapy for inappropriate behavior with Dylan or for any other problems. Relationship with Previn In 1991 Allen began a romantic relationship with Soon-Yi Previn. According to Allen, it began in late December 1991. In August 1992 Farrow told her lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, that Soon-Yi had told her that the relationship between Allen and Soon-Yi had begun on December 1, 1991. Later Farrow alleged it began while Previn was in her final year of high school, which ended in June 1991. She also alleged that Dylan saw Allen and Previn on a bed together in the summer or autumn of 1991. The appeal court found that the sexual relationship between Allen and Soon-Yi began in December 1991. One point of contention has been how old Previn was at the time. When Farrow and André Previn adopted Soon-Yi from Seoul .... Discover the Lena Farrow popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Lena Farrow books.