Since everything is about to get really depressing and angry, I just thought I would start off with this great link from The Onion: “New Blog Piece On Woody Allen To Settle Everything”. This, I believe, captures the essence of so many problems I’ve been having with this story. I believe Dylan Farrow. But I also think that yelling about it isn’t going to solve anything and neither is painting some people as full-on saints and villains.
It was a letter she wished she never had to write, about something she says she wished had never happened. Dylan Farrow says it took all the courage she had to finally pen the emotional open letter she sent to the New York Times detailing her claim that her adoptive father, Woody Allen, had sexually molested her as a child, she exclusively tells PEOPLE.
“It took all of my strength and all of my emotional fortitude to do what I did this week in the hope that it would put the truth out there,” says Dylan, 28, now a happily married writer. “That is my only ammunition. I don’t have money or publicists or limos or fancy apartments in Manhattan. All I have is the truth and that is all I put out there.”
Dylan says she knew she would be taking on one of the most powerful and esteemed forces in Hollywood. Indeed, some of Allen’s defenders claim she wrote the letter – during awards season, no less – to sabotage her father, whose film Blue Jasmine is nominated for three Oscars. Others have said she wrote it to vindicate her mother. (Mia did not see the piece before it ran, a family friend says.)
“I’ve been hearing that a lot,” says Dylan. “I’m happy to answer that. My intention in writing that piece was to put the truth on paper from a voice that was not able to speak before. People are saying that I am not actually remembering what I remember. People are saying that my ‘evil mother’ brainwashed me because they refuse to believe that my sick, evil father would ever molest me, because we live in this society where victim blaming and inexcusable behavior – this taboo against shaming the famous at the expense of their victims – is accepted and excused.”
A turning point for her came on Jan. 12, the night of the Golden Globes, when Woody Allen received the Cecil B. DeMille Award for lifetime achievement, which his longtime friend, Diane Keaton, accepted on his behalf.
Dylan says that she had wanted to share her side of the story for a long time. But, she tells PEOPLE, “After the Golden Globes, my brother Ronan showed immense bravery for standing up for the family and I realized it was my turn to stand up and to tell the truth.”
On Jan. 12, Ronan Tweeted, “Missed the Woody Allen tribute – did they put the part where a woman publicly confirmed he molested her at age 7 before or after Annie Hall?” Dylan says she knew the letter would draw “backlash.”
“I knew there were people saying I was a liar and that this was part of some smear campaign – some bitter vendetta of my mother’s,” she says. But, she adds, “I didn’t realize that it was going to be a betrayal of this magnitude.”
That betrayal, she says, came when her brother Moses Farrow, 36, spoke out to PEOPLE this week. Dylan spoke to PEOPLE shortly after she learned what her brother had said. Clearly anguished, she sobbed as she said, “My brother has broken my heart. Moses divorced himself from the family a long time ago. I always missed him. I loved him and I kept him in my thoughts. These lies – this betrayal – is unfathomable to me coming from a brother I loved and cherished and grew up with,” she said. “I’m sorry,” she said, apologizing for crying. “I’m shaking right now.”
She paused, regained her composure and said, “He has betrayed me in the cruelest way imaginable, and betrayed my family and my mother who has loved him since day one. His betrayal is the lowest form of evil that I could ever imagine.”
None of what Moses said is true, maintains Dylan. “It’s lies. It’s all lies.” She stands by her letter, saying, “My memories are true. What happened to me as a little girl … is my cross to bear. But I will not see my family dragged down like this. I can’t stay silent when my family needs me.”
She says there was a time when she adored her father. “Part of the reason why it was so hard for me to write the piece that I wrote was because once upon a time I loved my father so much.” Dylan says that when her mother heard the contents of Moses’s letter, “She was stunned. She couldn’t believe that he betrayed her and me and the family like this. Her reaction is on par with mine.”
Amid the sadness she feels over her shattered family and childhood memories that continue to haunt her are moments of happiness and normalcy. While she spoke to PEOPLE, her husband stood in the background, comforting her. She says she and her husband met through an ad on The Onion. “And we have been in love ever since. Yesterday was the anniversary of our first date. It’s been seven years.”
“He is the most wonderful man in the world. When they say living well is the best revenge – I have that. My conscience is clean. I have told the truth. I cannot say the same for Moses.” She also has her family, who she says has always been there for her. “I love my family so much. We are a strong family. We are a loving family. We are a brave family. We are fighters. I love my mother so much.”
She hopes her open letter will help sexual abuse victims come forward and seek help.
“I am hoping to help at least one person out there. And that’s why I spoke out.”
The Onion has personal ads?! WHAT?! Sorry, I was just trying to lighten the mood again. Anyway… I feel for Dylan. I think she is still dealing with what she went through as a child. Reportedly, Woody Allen is speaking to editors at the New York Times about publishing his own op-ed, but as yet, that has not happened. 60 Minutes has also re-posted their old 1992 interview with Woody, which you can see here.
