The 76-year-old actress was a mother to seven children before meeting Allen who she split from in 1992.
Mia Farrow is opening about her former relationship with Woody Allen in HBO's latest documentary. To take a quick look at her story, here's a reminder: Mia Farrow has 14 children, although three have died, reports PEOPLE. The actress was already a mother to seven children when she met Woody Allen. She had twins Matthew and Sascha Previn with her second husband André Previn. She later adopted Lark Song Previn, Fletcher Previn, Summer "Daisy" Song Previn, Soon-Yi Previn, and Moses Farrow. Soon-Yi was the sixth child added to the Previn family who was born in 1970 but adopted in 1978.
Farrow began dating Allen around 1980 before splitting from him in 1992. Soon after, Allen began a relationship with Soon-Yi, who is 35 years younger than Allen. She has been married to the director since 1997 and they have two adopted daughters. Farrow's daughter Dylan (who she adopted in 1985 as per Vox) had previously accused him of sexual assault.
The HBO docuseries Allen v. Farrow is a four-part documentary that follows the accusation of abuse against Allen involving Dylan, who was 7 years old at the time. The documentary is said to include "exclusive interviews on the subject with Mia Farrow, Dylan Farrow, Ronan Farrow, family friend Carly Simon, prosecutor Frank Maco, relatives, investigators, and experts" and "examines the effects of trauma on a family, and features prominent cultural voices exploring Allen's body of work in a broader context and reflecting on how public revelations about the personal lives of artists can lead to re-evaluations of their work."
In the last episode that aired recently, 76-year-old Farrow discussed how the Annie Hall director, 85, affected her life and her family. "He's weaponized two of my children that he's turned against me," Farrow said, according to PEOPLE, referring to Soon-Yi and adopted son Moses, who defended Allen in 2014 and claimed Farrow was an abusive mother. "They are all people I loved with all my heart. They are all people that I would've laid down my life for," Farrow continued in the finale. "I love Soon-Yi. It took me six years to throw away the Christmas stocking I knitted for her thinking she would come back, but she didn't."
“My mother drummed it into me to hate my father for tearing apart the family and sexually molesting my sister,” Moses told PEOPLE in the magazine’s 2014 issue. “And I hated him for her for years. I see now that this was a vengeful way to pay him back for falling in love with Soon-Yi.” Soon-Yi too called Farrow a "nasty, mean person" during an interview with Vulture, who apparently threatened to send her to a mental asylum.
"As we chatted at the game, I found I was enjoying her company more than I should have," Woody Allen wrote about Soon-Yi in his autobiography. https://t.co/Z4HbRi0HPh
— BuzzFeed (@BuzzFeed) March 1, 2021
Farrow's relationship with Allen curbed any sense of trust she had and would have with future partners and men in general. "I never brought [dates or significant others] home because I didn't want to risk anybody falling for one of my beautiful children or grandchildren," the actress said. "If I couldn't trust Woody after 12 years, I would never take another risk with anybody else," she added. "I don't trust myself to know. How would you know? I don't know. So I never brought them home."
We have received a lot of heated responses from Woody Allen’s defenders.
— Los Angeles Times (@latimes) March 14, 2021
Here's what they are really upset about.https://t.co/4bKQK3xFoX
According to the LA Times, many defenders of the renowned director have called the series "a one-sided hatchet job against the revered filmmaker" but the article points out that "Allen diehards are upset because Allen v. Farrow finally explores the other side of the story, and they’re used to a world where women were simply told to shut up." Perhaps that is for readers and viewers to decide.
"Part of the narrative was, 'This is a he said-she said.' But what we realized as we dug was that it was: He said, he said, he said, he said, he said, he said," #AllenvFarrow filmmaker Amy Ziering told THR of exploring PR machine behind Woody Allen. https://t.co/3JOefhWUbf
— The Hollywood Reporter (@THR) March 8, 2021
No one really knows what happened in the household, except for the family members themselves. Nevertheless, the couple's spokesperson said in a statement provided to Deadline, "These documentarians had no interest in the truth. Woody and Soon-Yi were approached less than two months ago and given only a matter of days 'to respond.' Of course, they declined to do so," the statement continued. "As has been known for decades, these allegations are categorically false. Multiple agencies investigated them at the time and found that, whatever Dylan Farrow may have been led to believe, absolutely no abuse had ever taken place."
References:
https://people.com/movies/mia-farrow-says-woody-allen-weaponized-soon-yi-previn-against-her/
https://www.vox.com/culture/22295290/woody-allen-mia-farrow-timeline-hbo
https://www.vulture.com/2018/09/soon-yi-previn-speaks.html
https://people.com/celebrity/dylan-farrows-brother-moses-defends-woody-allen/
Cover image source: Getty Images | Photo by (L) Kevin Winter, (R) Michael Loccisano
