Both of them are vague on how and when their friendship turned sexual — “It was 25 years ago,” she says... "and to the best of my memory I came in from college on some holiday and he showed me a Bergman movie, which I believe was The Seventh Seal, but I’m not positive. We chatted about it, and I must have been impressive because he kissed me and I think that started it. We were like two magnets, very attracted to each other.”....
“I know this is no justification,” she goes on, sitting across from me, her back ramrod straight. (“Posture,” she says quietly to Allen whenever he begins to slump. “I married her for her posture,” he quips.) “But Mia was never kind to me, never civil. And here was a chance for someone showing me affection and being nice to me, so of course I was thrilled and ran for it. I’d be a moron and an idiot, retarded” — she pauses here, mindful that this is one of her mother’s words for her — “if I’d stayed with Mia.” She adds, as if to set the record straight, “I wasn’t the one who went after Woody — where would I get the nerve? He pursued me. That’s why the relationship has worked: I felt valued. It’s quite flattering for me. He’s usually a meek person, and he took a big leap.”....
“I was madly in love with him,” she announces. It sounds completely heartfelt and as though it just happened yesterday. “Completely attracted to him, physically and sexually. I know he’d said that I’d meet someone in college, but I’d already decided. I came to realize how understanding he was and what a sweet person he was. He grew on me.” In an email she sends me, she slightly revises the scenario, showing a different side of herself, one in which she comes across less as the vulnerable, virginal girl she was than as a charming flirt: “I think Woody liked the fact that I had chutzpah when he first kissed me and I said, ‘I wondered how long it was going to take you to make a move.’ From the first kiss I was a goner and loved him.”...
The couple have two adopted children (two judges investigated each adoption, as is routinely done, and okayed them) because of Soon-Yi’s strong convictions about the narcissism inherent in having biological children. “I could definitely have children,” she says, “but I was never interested. I find it the height of vanity and very egocentric. I don’t need kids out there who have similar traits to me and look similar to me and Woody. Why is one’s DNA so special? Why would one keep on breeding when there are so many kids out there who need a loving home?”...
Now that the girls are grown... the couple are more close-knit — you might call it symbiotic — than ever. Allen describes how they spend their time together as “parallel play,” which makes Soon-Yi laugh. “Parallel play,” she repeats. “Yes, I think you’re right..."Lots more in the article. I've skipped most of it. I'll go back to the get-Mia things later.
... I ask Soon-Yi whether she thinks she’s been reshaped by her husband. “Reshaped?” she asks. “I mean, he’s given me a whole world, a whole world that I wouldn’t have had access to. So if you mean that way, then yes.”...
ADDED: Maybe I'll stick with my original skipping of the get-Mia stuff. I'm seeing this:
My statement on New York Magazine: pic.twitter.com/xml6pdaZqb
— Dylan Farrow (@RealDylanFarrow) September 17, 2018
Posts
42 comments:
So, he’s the Victorian gentleman who married his ward.
Got it.
It's all madness. The world turned upside down.
Where's the outrage?
He first met her when she was 10. Could have been 9, though, if it was before October--her birth month.
I'm sure lots of married couples have a similar story.
Burn Hollywood burn
"He first met her when she was 10. Could have been 9, though, if it was before October--her birth month."
Heck, Jerry Lee Lewis married his 13 year old cousin. He must have known her since she was a babe, (so to speak).
Cookie condones transgressive marriage.
I expected no less. And no more.
Well it’s not like he portrays similar relationships in his movies.
Woody Allen is a great director. Mia Farrow is a great actress.
Beyond that, all of these people creep me out.
It's too soon to hear about this. Would it be OK to wait another 20 years?
I read the whole thing. Skillful public relations. It has a breezy non-confrontational style, designed to make Soon-Yi look good and Allen look less wierd, and Mia look a little unhinged. Adopting 10 foreign kids is a bit hard to understand. It's like Mia was a one-woman UNICEF program. But I guess if you have the money, there are worse ways to spend it. It was a bit jarring to learn that 3 of the kids died young. But, not blaming Mia for this - many of the adoptees were disabled or ill.
It's the vortex of rich, Hollywood/Upper West-Side, Leftwing weirdness.
I'm sure lots of married couples have a similar story.
Boy meets girl when she's a kid. Girl grows up, then Boy becomes interested.
That probably describes a lot of married couples.
“I could definitely have children,” she says, “but I was never interested. I find it the height of vanity and very egocentric."
Whereas giving an interview to "New York Magazine" is humble and self-effacing.
That probably describes a lot of married couples.
Until a cute 7-year-old catches hubby's eye.
So much to unpack. Her comments support the narrative that Mia Farrow is an unstable, vindictive and generally unpleasant person. Her comments about children show how modern Western Leftist culture has destroyed the normal, natural drive to procreate, but, to each her own, I guess. At least she is not opposed to raising someone else's kids. It also shows how even Lib/lefty women want to be valued/desired/pursued.
Soon-Yi's birth mother used to slam her head into concrete.
You'd think she'd be grateful for the adoption.
What is unusual, of course, isn't the age of Previn when Allen first met her. It's the age difference when they became a couple, years later, and the specific kind of betrayal involved.
* * *
Here's a different question. Should Mia have been reported for child abuse before Allen betrayed her? Allen would not have been a mandated reporter but others that intersected with the family -- educators, doctors, mental health providers -- would have been.
Everyone cheered when a middle-aged Woody dated a teenager in Manhattan, so why wouldn't he think they would cheer when he did it in real life?
That said, Allen has re-earned a lot of my respect by his conduct since. (If any of you could let him know, I'm sure he'll be relieved to hear it.) The fact that he and Soon-Yi are still together after all these years turns something seemingly tawdry into something kind of beautiful.
tim maguire said...
"The fact that he and Soon-Yi are still together after all these years turns something seemingly tawdry into something kind of beautiful."
I don't see the beauty. I see the results of a lot of betrayal, on all sides, and someone who landed in more money than God saying she's cool with it. Sure, Mia Farrow is the adopted parent - she's the one who sacrificed - but fuck her, right? That's so beautiful.
I'll stop there, but, really, I could really let loose in all directions - Woody (going from Mia to her daughter?) Dylan, Moses, Ronan - it's the fuckinfg Munsters in real life. And that's not beautiful, as I understand the term. It's just creepy.
The Hollywood bosses told Allen if he ever divorced Soon-Yi, he was finished. It was his last chance. Perhaps the last chance to keep his balls, as well.
And yes, I think Mia Farrow is weird, too.
“but I was never interested. I find it the height of vanity and very egocentric."
Oh yeah I remember that. Wait too long, then overthink it.
Good times.
"Everyone seems to be telling her story at long last, so here — after "decades of silence" — comes Soon-Yi Previn."
What's the problem?
Too Soon?
In other news, Mrs. Rochester has been spotted in the attic playing with Dylan. Rowan is in the playhouse interviewing some woman. Mia has been seen in the children's room locking away their toys. Soon-yi and Moses were in the garden re-enacting the tunnel scene from Stalag 17.
Is that the one whose dad is Satan? Because I'm pretty sure that's cheating.
"Amadeus 48 said...
So, he’s the Victorian gentleman who married his ward.
Got it."
This is the lie which will never die. Why is it that if Soon-Yi was Allen's "ward", was her last name Previn?
I think the likeliest thing is that Mia Farrow IS a "Mommy Dearest" type. The sort who would adopt foreign children to assuage some of her privileged guilt and then use and abuse them as domestics to care for her own natural-born offspring and see no contradiction in her actions. The sort who would cheat on her partner with her ex-husband and then hit him with child support for a child who wasn't his.
Woody Allen IS a creepy, nebbishy guy who would seduce the daughter of his girlfriend. (He and Farrow never married and kept separate apartments) Did he molest his daughter? We'll never know, but it seems like he was more interested in young women (Soon-Yi was in her 20's when they started seeing each other) and false child abuse allegations in nasty divorces are far too common. Does that let him off the hook? No.
In short, they're all nasty pieces of work. The only difference here from some trailer-trash love saga is the fact that these people are all richer than God.
Both Mia and Woody are Hollywood freaks.
The 10 kids were for show, or maybe Soon-yi just got lost in the shuffle.
Its nice to remember that Woody and Mia weren't married and didn't even live together full time.
None of this is really sensical until the fact, after staring into baby Satchel's old blue eyes-style eyes, Woody realized that he'd essentially been cuckolded by Mia, and all else flowed from the outrage he felt from that. Then it all clicks into place.
The heart wants what it wants.
The Hollywood bosses told Allen if he ever divorced Soon-Yi, he was finished. It was his last chance. Perhaps the last chance to keep his balls, as well.
This. I think I read in another blog that Sun Yi discovered Woody Allen loved her when he said it publicly during some defensive PR interview. Having used love as a defense, he pretty much has to stay married. To not marry her, like he did with all his other girlfriends, or to divorce her, would be to admit that he's perverted for seducing his girlfriend's daughter. Marriages are more than the sum of their parts, and people stay together for all sorts of reasons other than romantic love. In fact, I suspect most marriages endure for other reasons than romance.
tim maguire said...
"The fact that he and Soon-Yi are still together after all these years turns something seemingly tawdry into something kind of beautiful."
Media led the public to believe that Mia Farrow and Woody Allen were a great couple too. I remember reading about them in just this way just a few weeks before this whole kerfuffle became public and it had evidently been going on for quite a while first.
So, keep in mind you have no idea what their marriage is like, or whether Allen has been faithful or not all these years, just because someone wrote an encomium to them.
The thing to remember is that Woody has a net worth of $80 Million, and Mia has a net worth of $ 60 Million.
That's not a lot by Hollywood super star standards, but it's a heluva lot compared to most normal people. When you have that kinda dough. many problems just fade away. You live where you want to live, you dine where you want to dine, you travel where you want to travel, you socialize when and with whom you want to socialize.
You probably end up a little crazy, but who cares? By my count, Woody is 82. Same age as my beloved Father-in-Law. As he regularly tells me, "Father Time is undefeated."
Soon, Woody will be too old to give a shit. Hopefully, his will is in order, and Soon Yi and their 2 adopted daughters will have a nice trust fund to become limousine liberals and possible modest NY celebrities.
Wonder if Soon-Yi ever leaves Woody alone with either of their two adopted daughters now that they are becoming teens.
"Would it be OK to wait another 20 years?"
Yes, please. Based on family history and general life expectancy, 20 years would suit me fine.
"Wonder if Soon-Yi ever leaves Woody alone with either of their two adopted daughters now that they are becoming teens."
Both girls are in college now. Maybe that's why Soon-Yi is emerging as a public figure. Look what she's done with her life? She's spent all these years in a weird confinement. Does she love her life choices? Read between the lines.
The brother of the writer, Daphne Merkin, is J. Ezra Merkin. He was involved in channeling funds to Madoff. By funds, I mean hundreds of millions of dollars. These people are all dysfunctional, but they're dysfunctional in a different dimension than the one I live in. I'm not sure why I'm interested in them. They create and get involved in problems that I'll never have to confront during this incarnation......A lot of the people who like Woody Allen's films take his side. I liked Woody Allen, but I felt betrayed by the scandal and don't take his side, Pro or con, I don't think his talents should influence one's judgment, but, of course, they do..... His self indulgence greatly added to the misery of those closest to him.. He mostly got away with it. From the age of 82 onwards, he will not be able to make movies. Not such a harsh punishment.
Mia Farrow is every bit as self-righteous, entitled, vindictive, and passive-aggressive as Hillary Clinton, so we need to make allowances for Woody Allen’s PTSD just as we do for Bill Clinton.
It's weird to read someone describe her own accusation against someone else as, "credible." Not weirder than reading Kavanaugh's assertion that he means to refute the undisprovable accusation against him, but still odd.
Why isn't Ms. Previn entitled to burn her mother's reputation to the ground? The mother/daughter relationship has a power dynamic of greater disparity than any adult relationship could. And there's a racial component, here. I understand why normal people shouldn't like to participate in it (I certainly don't blame Althouse for taking a pass). But, I'm not sure I understand when I'm meant to have a moral obligation to butt into other people's personal quarrels, and when it's cool if I mind my own business.
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