On Saturday afternoon, Dylan Farrow, the adopted daughter of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, published an open letter on Nicholas Kristof’s On the Ground blog on The New York Times’ website alleging a cycle of childhood sexual abuse at the hands of Allen.
“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,” she wrote. “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. I remember staring at that toy train, focusing on it as it traveled in its circle around the attic. To this day, I find it difficult to look at toy trains.”
The allegations were originally brought to light in Maureen Orth’s 1992 feature in Vanity Fair, entitled “Mia’s Story.” And Farrow split from Allen that year after the allegations of sexual abuse surfaced. Allen, who recently received his record 16th Best Screenplay Oscar nomination for Blue Jasmine, has remained relatively mum regarding the open letter, instead releasing the following statement to The Hollywood Reporter through his representative: “Mr. Allen has read the article and found it untrue and disgraceful. He will be responding very soon.”
But Allen did address the child abuse allegations in an in-depth interview with Steve Kroft on 60 Minutes in 1992. You can watch the interview below.
