Ronan Farrow, Mia Farrow call Golden Globes lifetime achievement winner Woody Allen a molester
Ronan Farrow may have laughed off rumors — started by mom Mia Farrow — that Frank Sinatra, not Woody Allen is his true father. But, that doesn’t mean Ronan cherishes a close relationship with ol’ Woody.
During the 71st Annual Golden Globes, Woody was honored with the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement. The writer/director/actor opted not to attend the event, but friend Diane Keaton accepted the award on his behalf. Shortly after Diane’s proxy acceptance speech, Ronan took to Twitter to address the elephant in the room…
Missed the Woody Allen tribute – did they put the part where a woman publicly confirmed he molested her at age 7 before or after Annie Hall?
— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) January 13, 2014
The message was quickly retweeted by Mia Farrow. (She tweeted about the show throughout the night, but said it was “Time to grab some icecream & switch over to #GIRLS” when Woody was honored.) She followed up this morning with a reiteration…
A woman has publicly detailed Woody Allen's molestation of her at age 7. GoldenGlobe tribute showed contempt for her & all abuse survivors
— mia farrow (@MiaFarrow) January 13, 2014
The molestation in question involved Ronan’s older sister, Dylan Farrow, who was adopted by Woody as a child.
When she was seven, Dylan accused her adopted father of molesting her. The case never made it to trial because Mia feared testifying would further scar her daughter.
At the same time, Mia discovered nude photos Woody had taken of Soon-Yi Previn, her adopted daughter with ex André Previn, who was essentially Woody’s stepdaughter. That inappropriate relationship became even more notorious when Woody and Soon-Yi went on to wed and adopt two children of their own.
Last year — 20 years after everything unfolded — Dylan opened up about her experience for the first time.
“There’s a lot I don’t remember, but what happened in the attic I remember. I remember what I was wearing and what I wasn’t wearing,” Dylan, now in her 20s, told Vanity Fair. “The things making me uncomfortable were making me think I was a bad kid, because I didn’t want to do what my elder told me to do… I was cracking. I had to say something. I was 7. I was doing it because I was scared. I wanted it to stop.”
Despite the trauma the Farrow family seems to have endured, some tweeted to Ronan that Woody’s personal life doesn’t take away from his lifetime achievement award deservedness.
A similar debate came about when director Roman Polanski — who was charged with “unlawful sex with a minor” for raping a 13-year-old in the 1970s, but essentially escaped prosecution by fleeing to Poland — was given a lifetime achievement award at the Zurich Film Festival. At the time, a columnist for The Guardian argued that judging artists on their personal lives would have “terrible implications for creativity.”
“Art should never be judged by looking at the artist. It is vital that we separate the two… If we wiped out all art created by morally reprehensible people, we would lose some of our most treasured songs, paintings, buildings and books.”
