Dylan Farrow Just Gave Her First TV Interview About Father Woody Allen’s Alleged Abuse
Dylan Farrow spoke out in her first television interview on CBS This Morning Thursday about the sexual abuse she's long claimed she suffered at the hands of her father, Woody Allen. Farrow first wrote publicly about the abuse allegations in The New York Times in 2014 saying, "What’s your favorite Woody Allen movie? Before you answer, you should know: 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. He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother’s electric train set. Then he sexually assaulted me."
She replayed that scene this morning for Gayle King, going on to say that Allen was inappropriate at other times, following her around the house, with constant cuddling and touching. Behavior, she says, he did not display with her younger brother, Ronan. "He often asked me to get into bed with him when he had only his underwear on and sometimes when only I had my underwear on." The director has always insisted that there is no truth to the allegations and continues to do so, saying in a statement to CBS, "I never molested my daughter—as all investigations concluded a quarter of a century ago." His claim has long been that Farrow was coached by her mother, Mia Farrow. No criminal charges were ever filed. Farrow steadfastly stands by her story, saying, "He's lying. He's been lying for so long."
But with the #MeToo and Time's Up movements taking hold, Farrow knew she needed to keep talking. "With so much silence being broken by so many brave people against so many high-profile people, I felt it was important to add my story to theirs. Because it's something that I've struggled with for a long time. It was very momentous for me to see this conversation finally carried into a public setting." But she's also been very public with admonishing actors who have continued to work with Allen.
"I'm not angry with them," says Farrow. "I hope that, especially since many of them have been vocal advocates of this #MeToo and Time's Up movement, that they can acknowledge their complicity and they can hold themselves accountable for how they have perpetuated this culture of silence in their industry." When asked by King how they're complicit, Farrow replied, "Because I have been repeating my accusations unaltered for over 20 years and I have been systematically shut down, ignored, or discredited. If they can't acknowledge the accusations of one survivor, how are they going to stand for all of us?"
Farrow has expressed gratitude to those who have stood by her, including Natalie Portman, who said on CBS Sunday Morning, "I believe Dylan." Reese Witherspoon soon echoed those sentiments on Twitter. In recent weeks a number of actors, including Timothée Chalamet, Greta Gerwig, and Rebecca Hall, have apologized for working with Allen in the past, with some donating their salaries to charities that help abuse victims.
What we must never lose sight of in hearing survivors' stories is the humanity and suffering at the core, making coming forward all the more brave and impressive. "I am a real person and I have been struggling, coping on my good days, with the aftershocks of being sexually assaulted as a small child. And that's real. And that matters. It's affected every part of my life."
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