Woody Allen has long-denied molesting his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow when she was a child and he believes the idea to frame him came from the lyrics to a song titled ‘With my daddy in the attic’.
The accusations against the Oscar-winning filmmaker have come to light again following the release of a HBO documentary this week that re-examines the decades-old allegation that he molested Dylan in the attic of their home when she was seven.
Allen has long claimed that his ex Mia Farrow fabricated the claim against him and planted them in Dylan’s mind after learning that he was having an affair with the actress’s then-22-year-old adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn.
The 85-year-old filmmaker is now married to Soon-Yi.
He has previously contended that the lyrics to a song written by Dory Previn, the ex-wife of Soon-Yi’s father Andre Previn, prove his innocence.
The accusations against Woody Allen have come to light again following the release of a HBO documentary this week that re-examines the decades-old allegation he molested his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow. Allen is pictured with wife Soon-Yi Previn in New York City
When their marriage fell apart in the 1960s following Andre’s affair with Mia Farrow, Dory wrote a series of songs after breaking down and being institutionalized for several months.
Allen, who started dating Mia a decade later, wrote in his 2020 memoir that Dory had contacted him in the 1990s to warn him about the actress while they were engaged in a bitter custody battle.
Allen says the idea to frame him for molestation came from the lyrics to a song titled ‘With my daddy in the attic’ written by Dory Previn (above), the ex-wife of Soon-Yi’s father Andre Previn
‘She alerted me to a song she’d written, the lyric of which referred to some encounter that went on between a little girl and her father in the attic,’ Allen wrote.
‘She told me Mia would sing it, and she was certain that’s what gave Mia the idea to locate a fake molestation accusation she would make in the attic.’
The song – titled ‘With my daddy in the attic’ – includes the lyrics: ‘That is where my dark attraction lies’ and ‘with no window spying neighbors.’
Another line from the song says: ‘With the door closed on my mama and my sibling competition.’
One of Dory’s other songs – ‘Beware of little girls’ – was about Mia Farrow.
Prior to referencing the song lyrics in his memoir, Allen also spoke of Dory’s song in a 2014 New York Times op-ed where he said: ‘Undoubtedly the attic idea came to her from the Dory Previn song, ‘With My Daddy in the Attic’.’
The song was released a decade before Allen first started dating Mia.
Mia and Previn were married from 1970–1979. They had six children together, including three biological and three adopted.
Allen has long claimed that his ex Mia Farrow (pictured together in 1983) fabricated the claim against him and planted them in Dylan’s mind after learning that he was having an affair with the actress’s then-22-year-old adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn
Mia Farrow and Andre Previn were married from 1970–1979. They had six children together, including three biological and three adopted
Mia Farrow, 76, is seen above during an interview with HBO as part of a four-part docuseries Allen v. Farrow. The premier episode aired on Sunday
The documentary features a never-before-seen video taken by Mia in 1992 of a then-seven-year-old Dylan describing how Allen allegedly ‘touched her private parts’.
In the video, shot by Mia, Dylan alleges Allen told her: ‘Do not move, I have to do this,’ as he touched her in the attic of the family’s country home.
‘I didn’t want him to do it, mama,’ she’s heard telling her mother of the incident. ‘I didn’t like it.’
The four-time Oscar-winning director has repeatedly denied molesting Dylan.
Allen has never been arrested or prosecuted over the sexual abuse allegation against Dylan, which was first made in 1993.
It was investigated at the time by state police in Connecticut where Mia Farrow and her children lived.
The allegations are included in the HBO series, Allen v. Farrow, which aired its first episode Sunday night.
Allen has slammed the documentary as a ‘hatchet job’ that is ‘riddled with falsehoods’.
Pictured from left to right: Allen, Dylan, Ronan Farrow, Daisy Previn, Soon Yi Previn, and Moses Farrow with Mia on the far right
Farrow recalls her shock at discovering what she said were ‘pornographic’ photos of her adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn (seen right) taken by Farrow’s then-boyfriend, Woody Allen (left). Farrow found the photos in Allen’s New York City apartment in January 1992, according to the documentary
He also claims those behind the documentary ‘collaborated’ with his ex Mia Farrow to produce the ‘hit piece’.
‘These documentarians had no interest in the truth,’ Allen’s representative said in a statement.
‘Instead, they spent years surreptitiously collaborating with the Farrows and their enablers to put together a hatchet job riddled with falsehoods.
‘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.’
Allen claims that he and his wife were approached about the documentary less than two months ago and given ‘only a matter of days’ to respond.
The documentary’s producer Amy Herdy, however, claims she reached out as early as June 2018.
The couple also suggested that HBO’s business dealings with his estranged son Ronan Farrow, who signed a multi-film production deal with HBO in 2018, are proof that the documentary is biased.
‘It is sadly unsurprising that the network to air this is HBO – which has a standing production deal and business relationship with Ronan Farrow,’ Allen’s representative said.
‘While this shoddy hit piece may gain attention, it does not change the facts.’