After Dylan Farrow, the adopted daughter of filmmaker Woody Allen, accused him of sexually abusing her at seven years old, the director’s lawyer has accused ex-partner Mia Farrow of fabricating the allegations.
In a statement sent to Mother Jones, Allen’s attorney Elkan Abramowitz said the “vengeful ex-lover” had “engineered” the girl’s story, which she–now 28 years old–revived Saturday in an open letter posted on the New York Times’ website.
“It is tragic that after 20 years a story engineered by a vengeful lover resurfaces after it was fully vetted and rejected by independent authorities,” the statement reads. “The one to blame for Dylan’s distress is neither Dylan nor Woody Allen.”
Farrow–who has since changed her name and says she has recently been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder relating to the alleged incident–says after her story came to light in 1993, she faced scrutiny after Allen used the same defense, facing interrogation from multiple professionals.
When I asked my mother if her dad did to her what Woody Allen did to me, I honestly did not know the answer. I also didn’t know the firestorm it would trigger. I didn’t know that my father would use his sexual relationship with my sister to cover up the abuse he inflicted on me. I didn’t know that he would accuse my mother of planting the abuse in my head and call her a liar for defending me. I didn’t know that I would be made to recount my story over and over again, to doctor after doctor, pushed to see if I’d admit I was lying as part of a legal battle I couldn’t possibly understand. At one point, my mother sat me down and told me that I wouldn’t be in trouble if I was lying – that I could take it all back. I couldn’t. It was all true. But sexual abuse claims against the powerful stall more easily. There were experts willing to attack my credibility. There were doctors willing to gaslight an abused child.
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