HCH 21 / March 2018

The resented vengeful, the tedious obsessive, and the genius artist. #IBelieveWoody, by Antonia Tejeda Barros

I’m furious at this wave of rage and lies against Woody Allen. People have finally lost their common sense in the United States and the country has returned to the McCarthy era. The situation is really pathetic (not for Woody Allen, but for those cheap, hypocrite, opportunist, and ignorant accusers) and in Europe we don’t know if to cry or laugh at this whole mess.

The story is quite simple. I don’t understand why there are still people who say “We don’t know if Dylan was abused or not”. Of course we know! She was not abused. Not by Woody Allen, in any case. That’s not my opinion but the facts talking. All those opportunist losers who, in the name of the now-pathetic #MeToo movement, condemned Woody Allen haven’t read a single report proving Woody’s innocence. Is it malice? Is it ignorance? I don’t care what it is, but there is no excuse for being and acting so stupidly and irresponsibly and go and accuse somebody of something they didn’t even read about. The material is available on the internet (you can find these crucial three articles and a report supporting Woody’s innocence here). If all of Woody ‘s bullies (who show a big degree of illiteracy and idiocy) would spend half an hour of their time reading about the facts instead of tweeting and writing nonsense garbage about Woody this bomb would have never exploded.

And what about Hollywood? Yes, Hollywood: that place I used to admire and that I now find repulsive, full of rich opportunist actors who decided to take a piece of the cake, gain some ephemeral fame (just some tweets and some short news) and stab Woody in the back by saying they were sorry to have worked with Woody (after seeing the crocodile tears of Dylan Farrow) or, even more pathetic, promising they “would never work with Woody again”. There is something really comical about that sentence. Woody wasn’t planning on calling you again, you arrogant peacock losers!

Shame on the actors who have stabbed Woody in the back! Poor them. Nobody taught them that loyalty and gratitude are much more important than opportunism and hypocrisy. Woody’s fans will never forget their treason. These actors will always remain second-rate actors and will be remembered by their hypocrisy and their ugly opportunism while Woody will always remain a genius and will be remembered as one of the best filmmakers of the history of the cinema.

Also, let’s not drive things out of proportion here, because, although it made some noise, we are talking here about a bunch of actors who decided to eat a piece of this shameful cake. Let’s not forget that Woody has worked for the past 50 years with hundreds and hundreds of actors. And all (besides that shameful bunch) continue respecting him. The sad thing, of course, is that solidarity, loyalty and empathy are very seldom found these days. I wish those actors and actresses who love Woody would actually speak up. By now, the only two heroes that have stood firm by Woody are Alec Baldwin and Diane Keaton. I salute them and I will never forget their gesture.

Now let’s analyse the characters of this goofy story. First of all, we have Mia Farrow: the resented vengeful. A second-rate actress that, after appearing in a bunch of Woody Allen films didn’t do anything worth mentioning (in Woody’s movies she’s great, but thanks to Woody’s direction and script, nothing else). Back in 1992, Dylan kept repeating (together with her fantasied story of abuse) that her poor mother had lost her career in Woody’s films. What can you say about a woman that collects adoptive children like stamps and abuses them psychologically and physically (I’m not inventing that, this has been said by her adopted children Soon-Yi Previn and Moses Farrow)? Since I know that readers don’t tend to click on the links so much, here are some quotes by Soon-Yi and Moses about their adoptive mother:

“Mia was always very hot-tempered and given to rages which terrified all the kids. They can’t speak freely because they’re still dependent on her. But they could really tell stories and I’m sure one day will. It’s true Mia was violent with me and I have conclusive proof” Soon-Yin Previn

“[Mia] hit me uncontrollably all over my body. She slapped me, pushed me back and hit me on my chest (…) I was defeated, deflated, and beaten down” Moses Farrow

“[Mia] had a fierce temper. On one occasion, she kicked me and hit me again and again with the phone. She was always physical and violent with us” Soon-Yi Previn

“As a young child, I was given a new pair of jeans. I thought they would look cool if I cut off a couple of the belt loops. When my mother found I had done this, she spanked me repeatedly—as was her way—and had me remove all my clothes saying, ‘You’re not deserving of any clothes.’ Then she had me stand naked in the corner of her room” Moses Farrow

But in the media, Mia is the victim. Why? Because her already non-boyfriend Woody Allen fell in love with Mia’s and André Previn’s adopted daughter, Soon-Yi (who was 19 or 21 at the time, so, not a minor). Here I want to clarify some things because I can’t stand to continue reading misinformation and lies about this issue. First of all, Woody and Soon-Yi had hardly ever been in touch before 1992. Woody was Mia’s boyfriend (they never married) during 12 years but he never slept even once in her apartment. They lived separately. And we all know now that this made it easy for Mia to cheat on Woody with Frank Sinatra, since five years ago she said that her son Ronan (who is a physical replica of Frank) might “possibly” be Frank Sinatra’s son. So, Frank’s or nor Frank’s, Ronan is the proof that Mia was cheating on Woody. I don’t care at all about the sexual life of Mia Farrow (she can go with whoever she pleases) but I find it Kafkaesque that she presents herself as the Mother Superior in Morality when she was the Queen of Cheating (with Woody and with André Previn –with Previn she was the other woman). So, Woody never went and married his daughter, nor his stepdaughter, like stupid people keep repeating, since he never lived with Mia and Soon-Yi and was never a father figure to Soon-Yi. Bob Weide has explained and clarified the relationship between Woody and Soon-Yi in his brilliant article The Woody Allen Allegations: Not So Fast (please take 5 minutes and read it, you will learn a lot about this issue). But the most important thing here (more than your judgement on Woody’s and Soon-Yi’s relationship and love, or mine, or Mia’s or the neighbor’s) are Soon-Yi’s own words:

“Please don’t try and dramatize my relationship with Woody Allen. He was never any kind of father figure to me. I never had any dealings with him. He rarely came to our apartment before his own children were born. Even then, he never spoke and the truth is I never cared that much for him. He was always preoccupied with work and never talked to me. Not really to any of us. Only when Dylan was born did he start visiting regularly and then only to play with the baby. My own father is Andre Previn, who came to visit pretty often and took us all out frequently” Soon-Yin Previn (1992)

So, were Woody and Mia dating when Woody fell in love with Soon-Yi? Not any more, apparently. I always thought that Dylan Farrow’s lousy false accusation against Woody was prefabricated by Mia because of Woody’s story with Soon-Yi. But after reading Soon-Yi’s own words, I understood that if Woody would have started a relationship with another woman, any woman, it’s very possible that this prefabricated accusation would have arisen anyway.

“When I first got friendly with Woody, he and Mia were finished with their romance and were just friends. I think Mia would have been just as angry if he had taken up with another actress or his secretary” Soon-Yin Previn

Mia’s goal (then and …still now!) was to destroy Woody Allen at any price. And, what better than stab a knife into his heart, by taking his adoptive daughter Dylan away? Mia said to Woody (you can watch Woody’s interview here): “I have something very nasty planned for you”, and, most important and relevant to the story: “You took my daughter. I’m going to take yours”. Moses Farrow have said: “My mother drummed it into me to hate my father for tearing apart the family (…) I see now that this was a vengeful way to pay him back for falling in love with Soon-Yi.”

By the way, Soon-Yi and Woody Allen did marry. They married in Venice in 1997. They are sharing their lives together for 26 years already and have formed a beautiful family. They have two adopted daughters. If legally there would be any doubts about Dylan’s accusations, Woody would have never been able to adopt. But he didn’t have any problem. Soon-Yi and Woody are together for more than a quarter of a century, a non-common fact among celebrities.

In the Agatha Christie days that followed the explosion, Mia never took a lie-detector test. Woody not only did but asked to take one and, of course, he passed:

“I very willingly took a lie-detector test and of course passed because I had nothing to hide. I asked Mia to take one and she wouldn’t. Last week a woman named Stacey Nelkin, whom I had dated many years ago, came forward to the press to tell them that when Mia and I first had our custody battle 21 years ago, Mia had wanted her to testify that she had been underage when I was dating her, despite the fact this was untrue. Stacey refused. I include this anecdote so we all know what kind of character we are dealing with here. One can imagine in learning this why she wouldn’t take a lie-detector test” Woody Allen Speaks Out

The funny thing (or I should say: the pathetic thing) is that Mia paints herself like Mother Theresa: she collects adopted children, pretends to care about the poor children around the world, follows the Dalai Lama and the Pope, but, while abusing her adoptive children, has spent all her life bringing down Woody Allen. That’s sad and cheap. And very annoying. So, enough of Mia Farrow. Now, let’s go to the tedious obsessive: Dylan Farrow.

When I saw the melodramatic explosive interview of Dylan Farrow some days ago on the internet I felt sad and disgusted. How is it possible that this grown-up woman desires to make justice to her apparent injustice by denouncing her father on TV instead of bringing him to trial? The answer is simple: she (and mommy) already tried (26 years ago) to legally accuse Woody but she (they) did not succeed in anything, because Woody was investigated and was found innocent of all accusations. So, what’s left? Destroy him in public. Destroy him in the media. Destroy his reputation and, if possible, his movies too. I don’t see any seek for justice here. I only see a seek for revenge. An ugly, pathetic and sick seek for revenge.

Also, why is it that millions of us still don’t believe Dylan’s story? Because child abuse victims need to tell their story only once and they are believed. The abusers are investigated, charged and trialed, and then they pay their crime. That’s the case, for instance, of Mia Farrow’s (yes, Mia’s) brother, who was condemned in 2013 to 10 years in prison for sexually abusing two boys during several years. Weird, huh?

Another important detail that clouds this prefabricated lie is that, generally, in cases of sexual abuse and pedophilia, the abuser has a record of more than one victim: that’s the case of Harvey Weinstein (more than 90 women), Bill Cosby (59 women and two 15 year-old girls) and Mia Farrow’s brother. Woody has never been accused by anybody in 82 years apart from his adopted daughter Dylan, not before and not after. Doesn’t Woody’s case sound completely prefabricated?

Moses Farrow feels sorry for his sister Dylan (who, in return, said to him that he was dead to her, how nice): “‪What breaks my heart the most is that while Dylan believes what she says, I know from my own experience, that it simply never happened. So many times I saw my mother try to convince her that she was abused –and it worked. Some day, I hope she can escape from my mother, confront the truth and begin her own healing” (You can read more Posts on Moses Farrow Facebook page).

Soon-Yi said about Dylan’s accusation, back in 1992:

“The business of him molesting Dylan is so ridiculous that I won’t dignify it with a comment. Why Dylan repeats her story is another matter, and a sinister one. I was not surprised that Mia made a videotape of Dylan saying these terrible things as I think the motive is obvious, but I was stunned that the tape would somehow find its way to the TV news (…) I have refrained from commenting, but when Mia brought up child molestation and then had her sisters and mother and kids and friends parade out in public and do her dirty work for her, climaxing with that tape of Dylan being given out, I felt I had to speak at this point” Soon-Yin Previn (1992)

Woody himself said four years ago, in 2014:

“I naïvely thought the accusation would be dismissed out of hand because of course, I hadn’t molested Dylan and any rational person would see the ploy for what it was. Common sense would prevail. After all, I was a 56-year-old man who had never before (or after) been accused of child molestation. I had been going out with Mia for 12 years and never in that time did she ever suggest to me anything resembling misconduct. Now, suddenly, when I had driven up to her house in Connecticut one afternoon to visit the kids for a few hours, when I would be on my raging adversary’s home turf, with half a dozen people present, when I was in the blissful early stages of a happy new relationship with the woman I’d go on to marry — that I would pick this moment in time to embark on a career as a child molester should seem to the most skeptical mind highly unlikely. The sheer illogic of such a crazy scenario seemed to me dispositive. Woody Allen Speaks Out

Dylan has spent all her life accusing Woody Allen. Poor her. How pathetic. If I were Woody, I would sue her (and mommy) for having lied with so much hatred and destruction during all these long years. But Woody seems so nice and so not interested in gossip and hatred, that I know he will not do a thing. Four years ago, he only had love and sadness for his adopted daughter:

“I never saw [Dylan] again nor was I able to speak with her no matter how hard I tried. I still loved her deeply, and felt guilty that by falling in love with Soon-Yi I had put her in the position of being used as a pawn for revenge. Soon-Yi and I made countless attempts to see Dylan but Mia blocked them all, spitefully knowing how much we both loved her but totally indifferent to the pain and damage she was causing the little girl merely to appease her own vindictiveness” Woody Allen Speaks Out

When I first heard Dylan’s story, I knew Woody was innocent but I felt sorry for Dylan. A 7 year old girl fantasizes about a non-event and her mother takes advantage and exploits that to the point that the little girl believes that this actually happened. It’s sad but we all have to overcome our traumas (real traumas or imaginary ones). Now I don’t feel sorry at all for her. I feel it is shameful and disgraceful that a grown-up woman continues destroying Woody and the people who love him in an obsessive manner night and day in her tweets, in articles and on TV. I found this pathetic. Her name is very annoying to me and to millions of Woody’s fans. My guess is that Dylan Farrow probably wanted to be famous but didn’t have any talent. But now, hey, she has become (sadly) famous and has thousands of followers on Twitter. The truth is that her comments and accusations (to Woody and to everybody that respects Woody) are really annoying, snake-like and immature and she does not deserve much ink. So, enough about her.

And now, let’s go to Woody, the genius artist.

There are very little geniuses alive today that surprise me, accompany me, influence me and fascinate me like Woody Allen. I’ve seen all his movies and I love them all. His scripts are amazing, the cinematography in his films is always exquisite and the philosophy, humor, and drama of his films are overwhelming.

To this day, Woody has directed 50 films, has written 50 scripts and has acted in 46 films (I don’t count here the TV series and shorts). This effervescent creativity is often compared to Bergman’s, who wrote 69 films and directed 64. Woody was born in 1935. He’s 82 years old. His mother, Nettie, died at age 96, and his father lived to reach 100 years. I really hope that Woody (once all this shit has smoked out) will continue rewarding us with his amazing and brilliant movies for the next 20 years.

Woody will always be remembered as one of the greatest filmmakers. In contrast, the resented vengeful and the tedious obsessive would be, with time, remembered as the two snakes who made everything possible to stop the world from enjoying Woody’s magnificent art.

I saw yesterday (again, but this time with my older kids) Broadway Danny Rose. Such an amazing movie! I would like to finish this small love letter to Woody with a quote from the film. Funny, it seems like Mia Farrow didn’t get the whole idea of Broadway Danny Rose. Poor her:

Danny: Well, just let me say one thing. My Uncle Sidney, man, you know, lovely uncle—dead, completely—used to say three things. Used to say, “Acceptance, forgiveness, and love.”

Tina: Yeah.

Danny: And that is a philosophy of life. Acceptance, forgiveness, and love.

Broadway Danny Rose (1984)

 Antonia Tejeda Barros, Madrid, February 4, 2018

Originally published on Antonia Tejeda Barros’s Blog on February 4, 2018

More articles by Antonia Tejeda Barros in Antonia’s corner