Soon-Yi Previn defends husband Woody Allen in rare interview

NOTE: This article contains disturbing and sexually explicit language. Please read at your own discretion.

Soon-Yi Previn, the wife of Woody Allen and the estranged adopted daughter of Mia Farrow, defended her husband against what she contends is unfair treatment in the #MeToo era and attacked her adoptive mother in her first public comments about the relationships in decades.

On Sunday night, New York magazine posted on its website an in-depth article about Previn in which she talks of a troubled relationship with her mother and tells how she fell in love in 1992 with Allen, who was Farrow’s boyfriend at the time.

Previn, 47, said she and her mother clashed soon after Farrow adopted her and that her mother many times treated her like a maid. She denies being manipulated into a relationship by Allen.

READ MORE: Woody Allen explains why he should be ‘poster boy’ for #MeToo movement

Previn opened up about her relationship with Allen and said that they began their affair 25 years ago while she was home on a break from college.

“We talked quite a bit 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,” she said. “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.”

“From the first kiss I was a goner and loved him,” she said.

“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 if I’d stayed with Mia,” Previn said of their relationship being “a huge betrayal” to Mia.

READ MORE: Dylan Farrow responds to NY Times columnist for questioning Woody Allen claims

Previn said that she decided to speak out now because Dylan Farrow, who is an adopted daughter of Allen, is, in her view, unfairly accusing her husband of sexually abusing her when she was a child.

Previn’s referring to the allegations that Allen molested Dylan when she was seven years old. “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.

Allen was investigated but wasn’t charged, and he has long denied inappropriately touching Farrow. He has accused Dylan’s mother and his ex-wife, Mia Farrow, of brainwashing their daughter into believing she was molested.

WATCH BELOW: Dylan Farrow on Woody Allen sexual abuse allegations

0:44 Dylan Farrow on Woody Allen sexual abuse allegations

Previn said of Farrow: “Mia wasn’t maternal to me from the get-go.”

READ MORE: Dylan Farrow gives first TV interview about alleged Woody Allen sexual abuse

“It’s hard for someone to imagine, but I really can’t come up with a pleasant memory,” she said. Previn gave details, like Mia insulting her intelligence, and even calling her “retarded.”

“I do have a little learning disability. I’ve never spoken about it because Mia drummed it into me to be ashamed about it. It comes out in spelling, and I had to work much harder in school,” she said. “Mia used to write words on my arm, which was humiliating, so I’d always wear long-sleeved shirts. She would also tip me upside down, holding me by my feet, to get the blood to drain to my head. Because she thought — or she read it, God knows where she came up with the notion — that blood going to my head would make me smarter or something.”

Previn also recalled Mia throwing a porcelain rabbit at her. “I could see from the expression on her face that she felt she had gone too far. Because it could have really hurt me,” she said.

“I wish she had taught me how to put on makeup,” Previn shared. “I don’t know how to do any of that stuff. Mia never taught me how to use a tampon, and my babysitter got me my first bra.”

Previn did say she was “grateful” to Mia for adopting her.

READ MORE: Diane Keaton defends Woody Allen: ‘He is my friend, I believe him’

In separate statements posted on Twitter Sunday night, Dylan Farrow and Ronan Farrow say their mother is a good parent and that the New York magazine article is inaccurate and unfair. Dylan Farrow also noted that the New York magazine piece’s author, Daphne Merkin, calls herself a longtime friend of Allen’s.

Ronan, who has written exposés about sexual assault allegations against Harvey Weinstein, called Previn’s profile “shameful.”

“I owe everything I am to Mia Farrow. She is a devoted mom who went through hell for her family, all while creating a loving home for us. But that has never stopped Woody Allen and his allies from planting stories that attack and vilify my mother to deflect from my sister’s credible allegation of abuse,” Ronan wrote.

https://twitter.com/RonanFarrow/status/1041504876621000704

READ MORE: Ronan Farrow, Woody Allen’s son, speaks out about sex abuse allegations against director

Dylan called the profile “disgusting” and said her “mother never coached me, but she did stand by me, even when Woody Allen unleashed hell on her via lawyers and publicists and allies like the author of this piece.”

The director, who faced a wave of backlash earlier this year including several prominent actors vowing not to work with him again, is also quoted in the New York magazine piece. “I am a pariah,” Merkin quotes the director as saying during a lunch. “People think that I was Soon-Yi’s father, that I raped and married my underaged, retarded daughter.”

Previn married Allen on Dec. 23, 1997, and went on two raise two adopted daughters, who are both in college.

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.

—With files from the Associated Press