Woody Allen Blasts Sexual Assault Claims, Calls Them 'Tragic'

Woody Allen typically doesn’t respond to negative stories. An overwhelming majority of the time, he’s content to act above the fray, but when it comes to an allegation as serious as molesting a child, silence really isn’t an option. He addressed his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow’s initial allegations twenty-some years ago, and following her surprise op-ed earlier this week, he did the same yesterday via his representative.

You can take a look at a portion of the statement below, courtesy of CNN…

Back in the early 1990s, Allen separated from his longtime girlfriend Mia Farrow after he began an affair with her adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, who was of age. A vicious custody battle followed, during which Farrow and Allen’s seven-year-old adopted daughter accused him of sexually assaulting her while she played with a train set in the attic. The allegations almost immediately became national news and launched a thorough and very expensive investigation by local authorities. Ultimately, Allen was never charged with a crime. A team of experts concluded Dylan was not sexually assaulted and may have been unintentionally or intentionally coached by her mother, but the local judge said he found the evidence inconclusive and refused to rule out the possibility that she was molested.

The fiasco was whispered about in dark corners in a semi-regular basis after prosecutors officially stepped away from the case, but until recently, it mostly stayed off of the front pages. That changed when Allen was given his lifetime achievement award, and it quickly turned into a media firestorm thanks to an open letter in which Dylan accused the adopted father she hasn’t seen in decades of vile and disgusting acts.

Allen is reportedly planning to speak on the record more moving forward, but to this point, it hasn’t happened. When it does, we will let you know what he has to say. Until then, if you want to read more about the case, read Dylan’s full letter here and/ or a pretty in-depth analysis of why Allen might not be guilty here.