Dylan Farrow originally posted a scathing account of sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of Woody Allen when she was 7 on February 1, 2014 to New York Times columnist Nicholas D. Kristof’s blog.
I’ve re-posted and commented on both Dylan’s letter and Woody Allen’s response.
Woody says it’s all lies. He spends much of his letter focusing on Mia Farrow, not on his adopted daughter Dylan.
This speaks volumes to me.
If Allen is telling the truth and is innocent of the charges, or if he is guilty of the heinous crimes, the one common denominator is that Dylan is a victim.
Either of a horrible divorce where she was used as a weapon, or of gross sexual misconduct and a violation of her rights as a human being.
Bottom line, she is still very much suffering.
In response to Woody Allen’s letter defending himself, Dylan has responded in a letter to The Hollywood Reporter debunking a few of his claims, offering up facts & quotes from the official judicial rulings and stands up for herself and family.
What’s the truth?
Again, who the hell am I? I can’t tell you the truth. And I think what I believe isn’t important.
I think what you believe isn’t important. From all of this what I believe we should take is that protecting children is what’s most important and protecting Dylan when she was a child didn’t happen.
I don’t know Dylan’s plight. What I do know is what it feels like to be scared to death as a child with the inability to escape or find solace anywhere. Praying to all the gods that someone would step in and save you.
It’s a helpless feeling you never,
ever,
ever,
shake.
I know a staggering amount of men and women who have been abused and violated. Taken advantage of and have been damaged for the rest of their lives by adults that prey on the weak and innocent to exact punishment on a being that can’t fight back.
Years later, those adults could be crushed by their victims. But it doesn’t take away the darkness.
And therein lies the suffering. Usually quiet suffering that the child carries with them into adult hood.
How they deal with it defines them.
I don’t know if these letters will help Dylan. Bring a sort of closure, maybe…
But the darkness will still be there most likely.
I think it’s integral to protect the youth.
Integral.
And this declaration by Dylan is wonderful In my eyes.
This act at its core has the potential to save lives,
And it will inject beams of hope into the dark for many.
Maybe others who are suffering out there will find it inspiring.
Maybe it will invoke courage in children, in victims.
And maybe it will stop one sick fuck before he or she scars some innocent young soul forever.
Woody Allen knows the truth. He knows what he’s done.
And if he is guilty, he should thank his lucky fucking stars Dylan didn’t come to his house with a shotgun.
You go girl.
Dylan’s Response to Woody Allen:
“Once again, Woody Allen is attacking me and my family in an effort to discredit and silence me – but nothing he says or writes can change the truth. For 20 years, I have never wavered in describing what he did to me. I will carry the memories of surviving these experiences for the rest of my life.
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. He insists my mother brought criminal charges – in fact, it was a pediatrician who reported the incident to the police based on my firsthand account. He suggests that no one complained of his misconduct prior to his assault on me – court documents show that he was in treatment for what his own therapist described as “inappropriate” behavior with me from as early as 1991. He offers a carefully worded claim that he passed a lie detector test
– in fact, he refused to take the test administered by the state police (he hired someone to administer his own test, which authorities refused to accept as evidence). These and other misrepresentations have been rebutted in more detail by independent, highly respected journalists, including this most recent article here:
10 UNDENIABLE FACTS ABOUT THE WOODY ALLEN SEXUAL-ABUSE ALLEGATION
With all the attempts to misrepresent the facts, it is important to be reminded of the truth contained in court documents from the only final ruling in this case, by the New York Supreme Court in 1992. In denying my father all access to me, that court:
- Debunked the “experts” my father claims exonerated him, calling them “colored by their loyalty to Mr. Allen”, criticizing the author of their report (who never met me) for destroying all supporting documentation, and calling their conclusions “sanitized and therefore less credible”.
- Included testimony from babysitters who witnessed inappropriate sexual behavior by my father toward me.
- Found that “there is no credible evidence to support Mr. Allen’s contention that Ms. Farrow coached Dylan or that Ms. Farrow acted upon a desire for revenge against him for seducing Soon-Yi. Mr. Allen’s resort to the stereotypical ‘woman scorned’ defense is an injudicious attempt to divert attention from his failure to act as a responsible parent and adult.”
- Concluded that the evidence “…proves that Mr. Allen’s behavior toward Dylan was grossly inappropriate and that measures must be taken to protect her.”
- Finally, the Connecticut State prosecutor found “probable cause” to prosecute, but made the decision not to in an effort to protect “the child victim”, given my fragile state.
From the bottom of my heart, I will be forever grateful for the outpouring of support I have received from survivors and countless others. If speaking out about my experience can help others stand up to their tormentors, it will be worth the pain and suffering my father continues to inflict on me.
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.”
• Dylan Farrow To Woody Allen, 2014