NOTE: This article contains disturbing and sexually explicit language. Please read at your own discretion.
Dylan Farrow has responded to New York Times columnist Bret Stephens for his op-ed piece, The Smearing of Woody Allen, published Friday, that claimed Farrow’s allegations of sexual abuse by her adoptive father Woody Allen should be treated with “added skepticism.”
The piece cited an investigation into Allen from the time that found “inconsistencies in Dylan’s statements.”
Farrow has alleged that Allen sexually molested her during her childhood when Allen was married to Dylan’s mother Mia Farrow. Allen was investigated but wasn’t charged, and he has long denied inappropriately touching Farrow.
READ MORE: Dylan Farrow gives first TV interview about alleged Woody Allen sexual abuse
Allen often cites a report by the Yale-New Haven Hospital Child Sex Abuse Clinic concluding no abuse took place.
In his op-ed, Stephens takes issue with Allen being compared to Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused by more than 100 women around the world of sexual harassment and assault.
“But if Farrow wants an answer to her question, it’s because we know that the charges #MeToo has leveled against men such as Harvey Weinstein or Kevin Spacey are almost certainly true,” Stephens wrote. “The reason they have not been spared is because they are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The facts, not the allegations, prove it.”
Farrow took to Twitter to directly respond to Stephens’ piece writing: “If @BretStephensNYT is interested, there is much more information he can find on my case than what he cites in his piece, some of which I have posted here.”
READ MORE: Diane Keaton defends Woody Allen: ‘He is my friend, I believe him’
She went on to tweet, “To presume I invented this story & convinced myself of it is no less insulting than calling me a liar. I’ve consistently stated the truth for 25 years, I won’t stop now. It’s Stephens’ right to doubt me if he so chooses but his incredulity doesn’t change what happened that day. … What it does do is make it harder for the next victim to come forward.”
Farrow also responded to various Twitter threads that analyzed Stephen’s op-ed.
READ MORE: Alec Baldwin questions Dylan Farrow’s claims of being molested by Woody Allen
Get daily National news
In 2014, Farrow penned an open letter detailing Allen’s alleged abuse and wrote a similar op-ed for the Los Angeles Times last December.
In January, Farrow sat down with Gayle King on CBS This Morning to discuss her alleged sexual abuse by Allen.
“I was taken to a small attic crawl space in my mother’s country house in Connecticut by my father. He instructed me to lay down on my stomach and play with my brother’s toy train that was set up,” she said during the taped interview.
Farrow continued: “And he sat behind me in the doorway, and as I played with the toy train, I was sexually assaulted. As a seven-year-old, I would say, I would have said he touched my private parts.”
“As a 32-year-old, he touched my labia and my vulva with his finger,” she said.
WATCH BELOW: The latest on Dylan Farrow
Allen released a statement in regards to Farrow’s CBS This Morning interview and reiterated his denial.
“When this claim was first made more than 25 years ago, it was thoroughly investigated by both the Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of the Yale-New Haven Hospital and New York State Child Welfare,” read the statement, which was released when Farrow’s full interview aired. “They both did so for many months and independently concluded that no molestation had ever taken place. Instead, they found it likely a vulnerable child had been coached to tell the story by her angry mother during a contentious breakup.”
“Dylan’s older brother Moses has said that he witnessed their mother doing exactly that – relentlessly coaching Dylan, trying to drum into her that her father was a dangerous sexual predator,” Allen said in the statement. “It seems to have worked – and, sadly, I’m sure Dylan truly believes what she says. But even though the Farrow family is cynically using the opportunity afforded by the Time’s Up movement to repeat this discredited allegation.”
The 82-year-old filmmaker’s statement added: “That doesn’t make it any more true today than it was in the past. I never molested my daughter — as all investigations concluded a quarter of a century ago.”
READ MORE: Timothée Chalamet, Golden Globe nominee, donates Woody Allen movie salary to Time’s Up
A growing number of actors are distancing themselves from Allen and his next film, heightening questions about the future of the prolific filmmaker in a Hollywood newly sensitive to allegations of sexual misconduct.
Timothée Chalamet said that he will donate his salary from an upcoming Allen film to three charities fighting sexual harassment and abuse: Time’s Up, the LGBT Center in New York, and RAINN.
In recent weeks, Rebecca Hall (Vicky Cristina Barcelona), Mira Sorvino (Mighty Aphrodite), Ellen Page (To Rome With Love), David Krumholtz (Wonder Wheel) and Griffith Newman have all in some way distanced themselves from Allen or vowed that they wouldn’t work with him again.
Some have continued to support Allen, though, including Alec Baldwin.
“Woody Allen was investigated forensically by two states (NY and CT) and no charges were filed,” Baldwin said on Twitter in January. “The renunciation of him and his work, no doubt, has some purpose. But it’s unfair and sad to me. I worked with Woody Allen three times and it was one of the privileges of my career.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse or is involved in an abusive situation, please visit the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime for help. They are also reachable toll-free at 1-877-232-2610.
Comments