Woody Allen's Daughter Breaks Her Silence
For the first time on the record, Woody Allen's adopted daughter Dylan opens up to Vanity Fair special correspondent Maureen Orth about the sexual abuse scandal involving her famous father.
VF points out that it has been 20 years since Orth first reported on the case involving Allen and Dylan (who has since changed her name), his adopted daughter with Mia Farrow. As many know, the 77-year-old director married Farrow's other adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn.
Dylan, who the magazine says refused to speak Allen's name during her talk with Orth, says her fears are "crippling" and admits that she's still "scared" of his image. "There's a lot I don’t remember, but what happened in the attic I remember. I remember what I was wearing and what I wasn't wearing. The things making me uncomfortable were making me think I was a bad kid, because I didn't want to do what my elder told me to do. I was cracking. I had to say something. I was seven. I was doing it because I was scared. I wanted it to stop."
She continues that for all she knew, “this was how fathers treated their daughters. This was normal interaction, and I was not normal for feeling uncomfortable about it." Allen's attorney Elkan Abramowitz says the director still denies any claims of sexual abuse.
Speaking out decades later, Dylan adds, "I have never been asked to testify. If I could talk to the seven-year-old Dylan, I would tell her to be brave, to testify."
PICS: InstaGrab: What Are the Stars Sharing?
Allen's daughter says the Blue Jasmine director has attempted to contact her twice by mail, the second time during her senior year of college. "I should have recognized the handwriting--I didn't. It had a fake return name: Lehman."
Dylan says the letter read: "I thought you'd want some pictures of us, and I want you to know that I still think of you as my daughter, and my daughters think of you as their sister. Soon-Yi misses you. ...Your father."
She reacts, "How do your daughters think of me as their sister? How does that work?"
Allen's other attorney, Sheila Riesel, responded to the reported letter, calling it a "private matter," and telling VF, "This is a man who loves all of his children and should be respected for that."
For more with Dylan, and her mother Farrow, the November issue of Vanity Fair will be on newsstands in New York and Los Angeles on October 3 and nationally on the iPad, Nook, and Kindle on October 8.