Mia Farrow Discusses Feelings Towards Actors Who Work With Her Estranged Ex, Woody Allen

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 26: Mia Farrow attends the 2023 TIME100 Gala at Jazz at Lincoln Center on April 26, 2023 in New York City.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for TIME

Hollywood is full of scandals and tales of the bizarre. But Woody Allen’s secret ’90s affair with his former partner Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter Soon-Li, which eventually resulted in their marriage, may be the weirdest (and ickiest) one in recent decades.

Recently, Mia Farrow recently talked with CBS Sunday Morning about her feelings regarding actors who continue to work with her estranged ex, which, despite the #metoo movement (somewhat ironically started by Allen and Farrow’s son Ronan Farrow and his investigation into Harvey Weinstein), people still do.

Asked if she was able to separate their experiences as artists (her as an actress and him as a director) with their personal trials, Farrow replied: “Oh yeah, yeah.” Farrow continued, “I completely understand if an actor decides to work with him,” Farrow shared with CBS. “I’m not one who’d say, ‘Oh, they shouldn’t.'”

Actor Woody Allen, actress Mia Farrow and children attend The Apple Circus Performance on November 3, 1989 in New York City.

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Mia Farrow and Woody Allen’s scandalous history

Perhaps this is only a recent development, arriving from the long passage of time since Farrow discovered Allen’s secret affair with her then-21-year-old adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn in January 1992. (Allen had been in a relationship with Farrow since Soon-Yi was 10 years old, though they claim to have had little interaction during this time.) When she first learned about their relationship, Farrow was understandably disturbed that Allen not only was cheating on her but also cheating on her with her own daughter. And to learn about it by finding nude pictures of Soon-Yi that Allen had taken only made it worse. Seven months after this, Farrow publicly accused Allen of molesting her adopted daughter Dylan Farrow. Allen responded by suing the Rosemary’s Baby actress for full custody of their son Satchel (now Ronan) and her adopted children Dylan and Moses. The judge on the case rejected his request, and called his behavior toward Dylan “grossly inappropriate.”

The back-and-forth drama was tabloid gold (but those poor kids!).

Allen and Soon-Yi continued their relationship despite the scandal and a 35-year age gap. In 1997, Woody married Soon-Yi. They, too, went on to adopt two daughters. (One must wonder if Soon-Li had any reservations that he might repeat history?)

39-year-old Dylan Farrow still stands by the abuse allegations towards Allen, but her 46-year-old brother Moses publicly denied she was ever abused by Allen; in fact, both Moses and Soon-Yi alleged Mia had abused them.

No one can say with certainty what went on in that house, but one thing that is for sure: this is one very dysfunctional family!

As for Mia these days, she is at peace and is happy. She is currently doing a play on Broadway called The Roommate with longtime friend and Broadway legend Patti LuPone, about the depth and resilience of women “of a certain age.” It opens on Sept. 12 and you can watch the whole interview below.

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June 2022

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