The distressing phone call between Woody Allen and Mia Farrow about abuse allegations
For a long time now, American auteur Woody Allen has been at the centre of the ‘Art vs. the Artist’ debate which gains traction on social media platforms every other day. While Allen has earned widespread acclaim for the unique innovations he brought to comedy, many feel uncomfortable about his cinematic legacy due to the disturbing details surrounding his personal life.
Initially, Allen’s then-partner Mia Farrow found nude photographs of her adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn at Allen’s home in 1992. Soon-Yi Previn, of course, is now Allen’s wife. During the same time that the images were found and their sexual relationship was uncovered, abuse allegations against the director surfaced, which claimed that Allen had assaulted Dylan Farrow, the young daughter of Mia Farrow, multiple times. However, numerous investigations conducted by different organisations like the New York Child Welfare Agency concluded that there wasn’t enough evidence to support those allegations.
Over the years, the case has only become more complicated since Moses Farrow – the adopted son of actress Mia Farrow and director Woody Allen – claimed that Mia had “brainwashed” her children into believing the accounts she allegedly made up about Allen’s abuse. These complications were further exacerbated by the 2021 documentary Allen v. Farrow, which was called one-sided by several notable figures, including Alec Baldwin and Bill Maher.
Despite the ambiguity around the evidence and the heated public discourse surrounding the case, there are some records that are just too disturbing to process. This is one of them. In a released clip from a phone conversation between Mia Farrow and Allen, the gravity of the allegations becomes undeniable. Farrow says: “I’ve always, always been worried about you and Dylan. I didn’t know the doctor had to report this to the authorities. I didn’t know that. I want just to be sure she was all right. And she’s not all right, Woody.”
While talking about Dylan Farrow’s psychological and physical trauma, Farrow added: “She walks around the house holding her vagina. She sleeps with me. She’s scared of you, and you hurt her. Now I feel pretty guilty myself that I wasn’t there to protect her. She said, ‘Mommy, you didn’t help me.’ She said, ‘Daddy shouldn’t have done that. He shouldn’t have hurt me like that.’ If you heard her, you would weep inside, and you would just want to be dead because I don’t know how you can live with what you did.”
Although many thought that Allen was going to announce his retirement following Allen v. Farrow, the director recently announced that he has no desire to quit. A representative told The Guardian: “Woody Allen never said he was retiring, nor did he say he was writing another novel. He said he was thinking about not making films, as making films that go straight or very quickly to streaming platforms is not so enjoyable for him, as he is a great lover of the cinema experience. Currently, he has no intention of retiring and is very excited to be in Paris shooting his new movie, which will be the 50th.”
You can listen to the phone call below, but it does come with a trigger warning.
