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Soon-Yi Previn speaks out to defend Woody Allen

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Soon-Yi Previn speaks out to defend Woody Allen

Soon-Yi Previn defended her husband of 20 years, filmmaker Woody Allen, against allegations that he abused his adopted daughter, Dylan, and accused her adoptive mother, Mia Farrow, of being violent in her first-ever in-depth interview. After it was discovered that he and Soon-Yi were having a sexual relationship, Allen and Farrow’s 12-year union came to an end in 1992. Soon-Yi claims her attraction to Allen was sparked in part by Allen giving her affection that she alleges Farrow never did in an article with New York magazine, penned by Allen’s “friend of four decades,” Daphne Merkin.

In a lengthy and startling interview with New York magazine, she has broken her silence.

“What’s happened to Woody is so upsetting, so unjust,” Previn tells the magazine. Mia “has taken advantage of the #MeToo movement and paraded Dylan as a victim. And a whole new generation is hearing about it when they shouldn’t.”

Previn, who is known for her secrecy, told the magazine she felt compelled to speak out now because allegations that Allen sexually molested Dylan as a youngster had resurfaced, allegations that Allen rejects.

Previn was adopted from South Korea at the age of six by Mia Farrow and her former spouse Andre Previn. Farrow began seeing Allen when Soon-Yi was 11 years old, after she and Andre Previn split. Her relationship with Allen began when she was 21 years old, and Allen was still dating Farrow.

Dylan sent an open letter to The New York Times blog in February 2014, alleging her father of sexually abusing her when she was seven years old at the family’s home. The alleged attack occurred on August 4, 1992, according to the allegations.

Dylan has claimed for almost 25 years that Allen, who became her adopted father in December 1991, groped her “private part” when she was seven years old. Soon-Yi has maintained her stance for over two decades, telling Newsweek in 1992, “I’m not a retarded little underage flower who was raped, molested, and spoiled by some evil stepfather — not by a long shot.”

New York magazine called Dylan Farrow, who blasted the piece for “multiple obvious falsehoods.”

“Woody Allen molested me when I was seven years old, part of a documented pattern of inappropriate, abusive touching that led a judge to say there was no evidence I was coached and that it was unsafe for me to be in Woody Allen’s presence,” she says in part. “The idea of letting a friend of an alleged predator write a one-sided piece attacking the credibility of his victim is disgusting.”

Seven of Farrow’s children, including Ronan, released a statement saying, “None of us ever witnessed anything other than compassionate treatment in our home. We reject any effort to deflect from Dylan’s allegation by trying to vilify our mom.”

Allen said: “I am a pariah … People think that I was Soon-Yi’s father that I raped and married my underaged, retarded daughter.”

Dylan Farrow refuted in a statement for the story that her mother forced her to speak out. “This only serves to revictimise me … Thanks to my mother, I grew up in a wonderful home.”

They are still married today. Despite popular belief, Allen was never Mia Previn’s adoptive father; that honor belongs to Mia’s second husband, Andre Previn, and the two are said to have started dating after Soon-Yi was an adult.

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