Woody Allen on why his marriage to Soon-Yi Previn works, talks daughter Dylan Farrow's abuse allegations
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Woody Allen gave some rare insight into his 22-year marriage with Soon-Yi Previn in a recent interview that also touched upon his daughter’s allegations of sexual abuse.
The controversial filmmaker, 84, met Previn while he was still with his partner of more than 12 years, Mia Farrow, who adopted her previously. When Previn was 21 and Allen was 56, they announced their relationship.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I admit, it didn't make sense when our relationship started," Allen told The Daily Mail in a recent interview. "On the surface, we looked like an irrational match. I was much older and she was an adopted kid."
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He added: "It looked to the outside world that it was an exploitative situation – that I would exploit her as an older predatory male, and she would exploit me for whatever I had. That was never the case. In the past, I had always gone out with actresses, but for whatever inexplicable reason, with Soon-Yi it worked."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}When asked why he thinks his relationship with Previn has worked for so long, he notes that he believes the reason is that they don’t disagree on any major issues.
"She doesn’t really like jazz or sports, and I don’t like some of the TV shows she watches," Allen explained. "But we agree on the big stuff – raising kids, where to live, how to act with each other."
Woody Allen explained why his unconventional relationship with Soon-Yi Previn works for them. (Reuters)
The filmmaker and Previn adopted two girls--Bechet, 21 and Manzie, 20--after they married in 1997.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"We adopted two children together. Being a father was important to me. We had a lot of fun. Both the girls are in college now, one in California and one at art college in New York. Soon-Yi changed me," Allen shared. "She gets me to go out four or five times a week. She likes the social rumble and I enjoy it, too."
The comedic actor, who made a name for himself by playing neurotic characters based on his own real-life eccentricities, says that marriage has helped quell those qualities in him.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"I have calmed down since I got married," he said. "I’ve got rid of many of my more neurotic traits, although I still won’t go through tunnels and I don’t like small spaces or elevators."
Woody Allen opened up about his marriage to Soon-Yi Previn (Reuters)
Around the same time that Allen was making his relationship to Previn known, another adopted daughter, Dylan Farrow, who was 7-years-old at the time, accused him of sexual abuse. The allegations, which were the subject of multiple investigations that ultimately ruled in Allen’s favor, resurfaced in 2017 when the filmmaker’s estranged son, Ronan Farrow, was instrumental in bringing about the "#MeToo" movement with his reporting on now-disgraced figures in Hollywood like Harvey Weinstein.
Speaking to The Daily Mail, Allen addressed these allegations, noting that he doesn’t let them get in the way of his daily life.
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"Of course I am aware I am the subject of gossip and scandal, but I cannot let it bother me. I live my life. I work. I play jazz. I watch sports. I see my friends. I don’t look up and I don’t read anything," he said. "It was a false allegation but a great tabloid drama."
Dylan Farrow tells Gayle King on "CBS This Morning" that Woody Allen sexually assaulted her as a child. (CBS)
He continued: "So what can you do? Even if Dylan was to come out and say she made the whole thing up and was sorry, some people would still believe the story. So I ignore it. I work. I carry on. I surround myself with people I’ve known for a long time, people who know the truth."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Representatives for Mia Farrow did not immediately respond to Fox News' request for comment.
Although the star comes off as relatively sanguine about the whole situation, he shows some defensive qualities in his interview, at one point noting that he believes he wouldn’t have been able to adopt kids with Previn had there been merit to Dylan’s accusations.
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"Nobody just lets you adopt kids," Allen said. "If the authorities think there is a problem, they will not hand a child over. It is a correct process. You are investigated thoroughly each time."