to believe, and be heartbroken by Woody Allens step-daughters testimony

[fromparistoberlin]

kristof.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/an-open-letter-from-dylan-farrow/

I read this last night and it just about broke my heart

I believe her, and I am just so saddened by it

How the hell did he not get prosecuted

brave brave girl, and I feel awful as I have watched and enkoyed his films, even knowing of this murky tale in the background

Can't link because I'm on my phone but Brooke Magnanti wrote an interesting column yesterday. Thrust of it was this was the word of a seven year old against a wealthy and powerful man. Wouldn't you rather be wrong having taken the side of a vulnerable child than be wrong having taken the side of the powerful and wealthy?

There was a detailed Vanity Fair article a short while ago covering some of the events at the time and giving details of the attempts to take the allegations further.
www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2013/11/mia-farrow-frank-sinatra-ronan-farrow

Personally I believe Dylan.

I remember something written in the 1980s, but not sure it was Dylan.

Something about WA and MF were going to split, so it said she went out and adopted a little girl who, I can't remember how it was phrased, something like a girl he would like, but not exactly that.

There was some other stuff about WA putting his head on her knees.

"Wouldn't you rather be wrong having taken the side of a vulnerable child than be wrong having taken the side of the powerful and wealthy?"

But you don't have to take sides, you aren't involved. Isn't a more sensible position to accept you don't know?

I think she was 1000% abused, but when you read that her Uncle (mothers side) was a convicted peado and that her mum was a vocal supporter of Roman Polanski its somewhat muddies that water hey

what a fucking mess

Just because Mia Farrow is manipulative and bitter doesn't mean that Dylan wasn't abused. I totally believe her.

btw, the body language of those girls being hugged by Allen isn't very positive. They look totally unhappy and very uncomfortable.

Quite right, akachan
It is really not for any of us to 'take sides'. Plus, whenever accusations of sexual abuse are bandied about, hundreds of people pop up and say 'I believe you'! Well, good for you.

But statistically speaking, not all of these alleged sexual abuses have happened. Women have been known to lie about it, they have been known to have false memory, whatever the reason, some of these abuses just do not happen and the alleged perpertrator is innocent.

Speculation and gossip from the likes of us won't make a blind bit of difference to the outcome. Allen may be guilty, he may be not guilty, there may not be anything for him to be guilty of.

And the comment that basically says that she was bound to have been abused as her mother's brother was a paedophile and Mia supported Roman Polanski, well, that's a fairly big leap! It is possible she was abused, it is feasible that she was abused but it could also be utter hogwash. We do not know the facts and chances are we never will.

I think i believe her.

The only thing i do think though is that Woody Allen was in analysis for about 30 years, wasn't he? I don't know much about it, but wouldn't they have picked something up about this deeply disturbing side of his personality.

Even if the analyst did pick up on something like that, they would have to keep it confidential, I believe.

I thought they had to report crimes?

Apologies for not replying yesterday, but the inaccuracies have been pointed out by others. For what it's worth, I agree with a lot of what NirvannahCrane said.

Speculation and gossip from the likes of us won't make a blind bit of difference to the outcome. We do not know the facts and chances are we never will.

All very odd IMO. But absolutely innocent until proven guilty. I'm not sure Farrow is the innocent party she would have us all believe here. I think it's very sad that all of these kids have ended up in the middle of their clearly very dysfunctional dynamic, whether the allegations are true or not.

I'm tired of people trying to normalise the beginnings of WA's relationship with his current wife.
"MF and WA weren't even married"
No, but they were partners of over a decade
"they didn't even live together"
I imagine this has more to do with WA's eccentricities than the status of their relationship. They had 3 children together. That constitutes a family unit, albeit an unconventional one, in my eyes.
"they were both adults"
Just about, and there is no doubt she was some what vulnerable. WA had been in her life since she was a young child. He is the father of he siblings.
It's extremely fucked up.
As for Dylan, I believe her too.

While it is true that whether a bunch of strangers on the internet believe Dylan or not will not make any difference to the legal process (which is not even active in this case) or to whether he is guilty or innocent, I would suspect it will make a difference to Dylan. Coming out publicly about something like this must take enormous guts and it must, at some level, be helpful to get public support back.

I don't think we know the full facts so can't say who I believe

I believe her unfortunately.I do not like Woody Allen or the idiots that fawn over him.

It's the little details that I find particularly creepy, the putting his thumb into Dylan's mouth for her to suck (as an older child not a baby), rubbing sun cream into her bottom crevice (we all know the sun don't shine there).

I am a massive fan of Woody Allen. Have all his films, and love his prose. Being extraordinarily talented does not mean you can't be massively flawed in other ways.

I don't think grown women write open letters for the WORLD to read if they are not very very sure of the facts.

Regardless of whether he ever lived with Soon-Yi, or whether he ever felt paternally towards her, she still had the status in his life of step-daughter. That is a massive red flag for his propensity for inappropriate relationships and blurred personal boundaries.

I'm not sure I believe her.

I believe that she thinks it happened, but that says more about Mia Farrow than it does about her.

Personally, I think the only thing Woody Allen is guilty of is his very odd marriage to his girlfriends adopted daughter.

I believe her

Sounds to me like the children were abused in one way or another by both parents.

I have no idea whether this girl is telling the truth or not. The only people that will ever know the truth are her and Woody Allen.

Any abuse is always abhorrent and disgusting. To the person upthread who said well why would anyone lie about it - sometimes, for whatever reason, people do make up stories of abuse, and these stories can have devastating consequences as well.

I can understand her being hurt by his recent Oscar nomination and that she sees it as a 'personal rebuke' - like being told to shut up and go away.

Can also understand her feeling upset towards the actresses who worked for him - some of them knew her as a child, and feeling like they don't care.

Given the extremely dysfunctional dynamic of her entire family and upbringing, the "I believe her" mantra applied here is a bad call.

And given the timing I'm even more dubious.

This is one case where IMO the watchword is definitely presumed innocent until proven guilty.

I also think this trial by media may have the opposite effect of that intended, and make future claims of abuse less believed.

Sounds to me like the children were abused in one way or another by both parents. Yes, it very much does.

"I believe her" mantra applied here is a bad call.

I don't think so.

I believe her.