Woody Allen is about to head to the South of France for the big Cannes Film Festival premiere of his latest film, Café Society. It’s a rare Woody Allen film set in LA, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, and it stars Kristen Stewart, Jesse Eisenberg, Blake Lively and more. You can see the trailer here. Over the past decade, Woody’s films have been hit-or-miss. As in, one year he’ll have a hit and the next year he’ll have a bomb. He doesn’t pay attention to either reaction, he just keeps on chugging away, making his one film a year. In recent years, Woody tends to do sparse promotion, on average it’s probably one major interview per film. This year he gave his big interview to The Hollywood Reporter. And it’s a doozy – you can read the full piece here. Woody is not engaged with the modern world at all. He’s not online, he doesn’t read his press, and he fully admits he “lives in a bubble.” He doesn’t even watch movies. His connection to the outside world seems to be his wife/former step-daughter Soon-Yi and their kids. And he has some fascinating/ridiculous things to say. Some highlights:
His bubble: “People often have said, ‘Gee, you live in a bubble’ — and maybe I do. I get up in the morning, take the kids to school, then do the treadmill, then get into my room and work, have lunch, go back and work, practice the clarinet, see friends or go to a basketball game. It’s a bourgeois, middle-class worker’s life. But it’s enabled me to be productive over the years.”
Whether he hates LA: “No, no. You know, that was always a myth. I never hated it. It’s just not a place that I could live in because I don’t like sunny weather and I don’t like being dependent on a car. I like cities like New York, where I can walk out of my house and I’m right in the middle of everything and there’s noise and traffic and we get gray, cloudy days and snow. But I have many friends in California. I enjoy going out there for short periods of time. I don’t like to drive. I can drive, but I don’t like to.
Whether he felt “immune” to the criticism when he started dating Soon-Yi: “I was immune, yes I was. You can see I worked right through that, undiminished. Made films all through those years and at the same rate I was making them. I’m good that way. I am very disciplined and very monomaniacal and compartmentalized.
Whether he ever sees Mia Farrow: “No. I don’t think she lives in New York. I think she lives in Connecticut. I’m not sure. Or travels for UNICEF or something.
Woody is asked how Soon-Yi has changed him: “Oh, well, one of the great experiences of my life has been my wife. She had a very, very difficult upbringing in Korea: She was an orphan on the streets, living out of trash cans and starving as a 6-year-old. And she was picked up and put in an orphanage. And so I’ve been able to really make her life better. I provided her with enormous opportunities, and she has sparked to them. She’s educated herself and has tons of friends and children and got a college degree and went to graduate school, and she has traveled all over with me now. She’s very sophisticated and has been to all the great capitals of Europe. She has just become a different person. So the contributions I’ve made to her life have given me more pleasure than all my films.
No, really, how did Soon-Yi change him? “Well, she’s given me a lot of pleasure. I adore her, and she’s given me a wonderful life. We’ve been married 20 years. And we were together for a few years before that. And she has given me the great years of my life, personally. She’s a great companion and a great wife. She has given me a stable and wonderful home life and great companionship. I guess whenever you meet somebody and they’re the right person for you, there is a great emotional contribution they make to your life…. Changed me? I don’t know if you could say she changed me. I don’t know if I’ve changed. I might be the same person I was when I was 20. I’m not sure. I mean, I seem to have the same habits, the same work habits, the same phobias, the same enjoyments. I don’t think I have changed much over the years at all. When you mention it, I try and think about the ways [I’ve changed]. I don’t know if I’ve changed much.
THR didn’t ask Woody about Dylan Farrow’s essay/accusations back in 2014, which I’m assuming was a prerequisite for THR landing this interview. But even without any mention of Dylan’s essay, Woody still manages to be utterly creepy about Soon-Yi. However you feel about how Woody and Soon-Yi started their relationship, can we all agree that Woody mainly sees Soon-Yi as an extension of himself? He clearly views himself as her benefactor, and like she should be grateful that he “picked” her when she was 17. Ugh.
Photos courtesy of THR, WENN.
Did he have to use the word PLEASURE!
^This. We hardly need a reminder of their beginnings.
I’m sure he knew that many of us would have a strong reaction to his wording. He’s such a weasel and so passive aggressive.
Yes, you just want to strangle him…slowly.
@Decorative Item: I think that he might enjoy that (and I do shudder as I get a mental image of him being sexual…uggggggggghhhhh! BRAIN BLEACH!! BRAIN BLEEEEEAAACCHHHH!!!!) 😵
He speaks of it as if HE was the one who saved Soon-Yi, but Mia Farrow, the woman he speaks of so dismissively, is the one who did that. And yes, “pleasure” is such a repulsive word for him to use in summing up the relationship he began with his then-step-daughter when she was still in her teens and his longtime partner, Mia Farrow, was giving birth to his children. Hard for me to say this, but Woody Allen used to be one of my heroes.
It’s just so foul to hear him speak of their relationship. It’s sounds more like a man and his pet than two consenting adults.
You. Are. So. Right. Mia and Andre adopted her and gave her stability. Woody gave her herpes.
–TheRealPinky.
Yes to the “saving” feel. As an adoptive parent, one of the things you never, EVER say or implicate is that you “saved” a child from an orphanage. Many people think that, of course, but truly I always say (and mean it) that if anyone was saved, it was me and my husband, saved by the gift of parenting our son. Woody sounds more like an unenlightened adoptive parent buying into the “saving ” concept. Ick.
@Pinky – O.M.G. I can’t believe you said that, but I love you for it.
And a hearty YES! to all comments here referencing his intimation that he is a hero in his own eyes. And using the word “pleasure”. As if he wants us to picture his “happy endings”. Please, no. Dude is whack!
I have always thought he stayed with Soon Yi because he had to in the face of possibly just “using” her. Maybe he would have remained with her regardless – if she were say in her 20’s or 30’s, but we’ll never know because the stigma was there and the pressure was on him. But one must question if he thinks he’s a hero perhaps because he made that sacrifice (staying) and his mind he might think that makes him laudable. In my cynical mind, it’s more likely he was trapped and did what he needed to do to save his career and reputation as best he could after crossing the line.
@ Pinky.
Yeah, he thinks HE was the one who made her life better and gave her all those wonderful opportunities?! No, that was the couple who adopted her – Andre Previn and Mia Farrow.
I am so disgusted by him
Yes!!!! It was my understanding that Mia was the one that adopted her and gave her an opportunity for a better life.
His comments regarding having the same habits and enjoyments and nothing changing over the years made me shudder. Ive always worried for his children with soon-Yi
@Aussie Girl
Yes, I worry about his youngest daughters too. One of them is so similiar to Soon Yi as a young teen, the way he liked her. He always used the fact that Soon Yi wasn’t really his daughter as an excuse for seducing her. Well, his two young daughters are adopted, so…
What he did to Mia Farrow and their children is STILL reprehensible. Soon-Yi is no angel, either. I hope Mia and their children have gone on to find some healing and happiness in their lives after that tawdry mess.
WHY!
No one has forgotten how this went down.
This man is old, ugly and creepy.
Hollywood reporter did a good job of reminding us what is wrong in Hollywood. This man should never hold a front cover.
I like that his son said who is going to be on the cover next Bill Cosby.
UGH. Controversy sells.
I love that the Hollywood Reporter had to repeat the question about how Soon-yi changed him because the first time he was asked, he made it all about how he SAVED her (as if he was the one who personally plucked her off the streets of Korea, ugh), and then the second time yielded that gross soundbite in the header.
I really should not have had breakfast before reading this post. So vomit inducing.
So disgusting. Ugh what a garbage person
He makes me sick
LOL! That was my first thought.
I threw up a little at that word. Ewwwwww.
This! I was coming here to make a similar comment.
Why the word “pleasure”? I feel like I need to go and wash, now.
Ewwwww!!! Nasty ass pedo needs to GO AWAY. I can’t even believe he still gets work in Hollywood. So stupid.
Same! I feel like I need a shower just for reading this ‘interview’..
I am amazed at the number of actors willing to work with him. Photos of him make my skin crawl. I can’t imagine seeing him in person, much less interacting with him.
Megan, ITA, but consider the actors: None of the ones listed here are even old enough to remember when this all went down, so perhaps their reaction to him is less visceral.
More likely, they’re just after the artsy fartsy street cred of appearing in a Woody Allen film, and don’t give a crap about the rest.
@Bettyrose
It’s funny, because I’m YOUNGER than Emma Stone, Blake Lively, Kristen Stewart, and I actually get sick to my stomach when I hear the name “Woody Allen.” Just a little Googling and research gets you all the info you would ever need on a creep like him. I would never, ever work with someone like him. I don’t think we should excuse any of them. All of them had multiple, multiple strikes. They’re not America’s Sweethearts. They’ve actually done multiple offensive things.
But I get what you mean. Even Cate Blanchett. They’re after the Oscar. They’re after that “artsy fartsy street cred” as you say.
He hasn’t done a really good movie in 20 years so I don’t understand why they work with him either. Cate Blanchett won the Oscar not because of Woody Allen but since she is Cate Blanchett and she deserved a lead actress Oscar since Elizabeth when goop got it that year.
It’s not going to work for anyone else. He does the same movie over and over again anyway.
KHLBHL,
#respect. I certainly didn’t mean that his behavior is less offensive to your generation. But I despised his films even when he was with Mia, but when this all happened (in my teens), it was a source of constant debate and discussion by all of us who were horrified (yet not entirely surprised by his true character).
I kinda lose respect for actors when I see they are doing one of his films. They are never the same for me after that. Sad face to Steve Carrell – you too buddy!
@ Coco. I agree. Once an actor does a Woody Allen film, they are dead to me. I mean, is fame worth that much that you would fawn all over a guy like that just to get it (or more of it)? I guess for some people, the answer is yes.
He’s gross obvs. I do wonder if he has no knowledge of anything going on like he says, what makes him pick the actors for his movies? He seems to go for certain ones who have some appeal. I just don’t believe he is isolated. He knows we know he’s a creep.
Gross gross gross. That man’s a pig.
EWWWW!!!!
There are things I don’t need to know. This is one of them. When I see him, I see the world’s most repugnant man.
I think Bill Cosby takes it for this generation; though WA is a reeealllly close second by a fractional margin.
If you Google it, there are many references to Soon Yi being learning disabled, or something that prevents her from being fully functional. The part about all the education she received is a little fishy. The inequality in their relationship is even WORSE if you consider she could never quite comprehend what he was doing – and it definitely makes her seem more like a pet than a wife. He is repulsive and self-serving and completely without integrity.
He makes me utterly sick. He talks about her like she’s a charity case. His “enjoyment” of her is obvious – she was a child when he started abusing her. A child who had been starving on the street and he sees himself as doing her a favor by exchanging security for sex. What a guy.
Right? He’s like a pimp that just doesn’t prostitute her to other people. So gross.
I just read The Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood, GNAT, which is a very powerful novel about misogyny. There are two male characters: one openly sexually violent and verbally abusive; one who thinks of himself as a laid back hippy but is possibly actually even more vile in his misogyny because he doesn’t even realise he is a misogynist. The latter is Allen, isn’t it? This whole interview positively drips misogyny. It’s repulsive.
Exactly, Sixer. He is the meaning of that term. (I just now ordered the novel on Kindle after reading yr post – it sounds gripping. I was looking for another novel to read, so I was glad to see yr recommendation.)
It’s a painful read. But I loved the anger in it. Righteous!
Yes, exactly. I’ll have to read the book. It sounds interesting.
Sixer, I’ve always said that men who applaud themselves for helping women are the worst misogynists, but even then Woody is uniquely awful in his need to have absolute control over women. There isn’t one moment of that interview that isn’t horrifying. His total lack of shame in bragging about how he’s raised and groomed his own wife, how she owes everything to him…can you imagine living with that, hearing it every day?
I’ll have to read that one. This entire Woody Allen situation reminded me of Nabokov’s “Lolita”, it seems, that Woody has been following the main hero’s creepy steps. Anybody agree on that?
He’s a dinosaur. By his own admission. His brand of misogyny is preserved for those who want to study it like a archaeological specimen.
I boycott his films now…don’t care how great they are.
Cate Blanchett, Colin Firth, Alec Baldwin…I don’t get why any of these people work with him…disappointing.
But that’s Hollywood/celebrity, isn’t it? Overlooking the pedophiles and rapists…
Yep, Neverwintersand, I thought of Lolita too. Somehow Woody Allen seems even worse–WAY worse, way slimier–than Humbert Humbert did, and I think it’s because of that Messiah complex Woody uses to justify the grooming of his mark in childhood by claiming to have saved her from such a dire existence. But yeah, as a big ol Nabokov fan, I couldn’t help thinking of Lolita either.
Bettyrose – exactly. The character in the book who doesn’t think of himself as misogynist is truly creepy. He’s a pathetic whiner who blames all his own inadequacies and failings on his view that his girlfriend is somehow not good enough. He made my skin crawl, because you learn this about him as the women in the story are eavesdropping. Somehow, the eavesdropping made it worse. You are right. That whole interview was deeply, deeply unpleasant. And not the best thing to read coming off the back of the novel.
I’ll have to check that book out. But yes, this guy- his behavior and his mentality here- are disgusting.
@Bettyrose: “always said that men who applaud themselves for helping women are the worst misogynists”
I know what you mean. I work with a guy who never misses a chance to promote what a devout feminist he is. Yet he glosses over the fact that he did the typical male thing of leaving his ex with the lion’s share of raising their two sons so he could run around partying and chasing women. He also never misses a chance to humble brag about the women he’s slept with and he treats young, conventionally attractive, women with a lot more respect that he does other women. He sickens me.
Now THIS is a man who loves Love, Actually.
He has no insight or people around who care about him enough to snap his ass back to reality. If only he really were fiction.
–TheRealPinky
GNAT – you hit the nail right on the head.
He wasn’t even the one that ‘saved’ her! That was MIA. And want to talk about exposing kids to sophistication: Mia was married to Andre Previn when Soon-Yi was adopted. But sure Woody. You’re the hero who really gilded that lily.
I don’t even know what to say regarding his quote about Soon-Yi. It’s so f–ked up.
This man is so creepy and gross. He speaks about his wife like she was a courtesan
It’s so much worse than that. He talks about her like she’s his daughter.
It was Mia Farrow who made her life better – who adopted her, educated her, loved her. Funny how he takes all the credit for making her life better. He’s a selfish, horrible messed up person.
Right? Mia picked her up from a South Korean street, gave her an education, a family and a home. Woody robbed her of that. I feel so bad for this woman. She has no contact with her Korean family, her adoptive family, and has had only one serious romantic relationship which also has a paternal component and constitues the longest relationship of her life. No woman deserves this, life is so unfair.
He never let her feel secure. He started taking nude pictures of her when she was what 14? Imagine how that felt to her. The first “home” she ever had was with Mia, and Mia’s boyfriend was coming on to her and what was she supposed to think or do? She wasn’t just a child, she was a child who had never experienced normal parental love. And he exploited that for his own sick pleasure and now claims to have just been SO magnanimous and a wonderful improvement to her life. I honestly think he has no ability to feel emotion beyond “I want.”
@GNAT – What’s this about taking photos of her at 14?!?!
@juice – Mia found nude photos of Soon-Yi when she was around 14 that Woody had taken. That’s when the sh*t hit the fan.
Soon-Yi was sophomore in college when they started dating.
@GNAT The way he answered that question about her role in his life; the way he boasts in multiple interviews that he is too “monomaniacal and compartmentalized” to allow any of this to bother him…. I think this man is a sociopath. Or is at least one of the personality disorders in that cluster. I mean this is beyond your run of the mill selfishness.
@cubafan
Completely untrue. He started photographing her in the nude when she was about 14. Mia found the photographs later. But nice try, Woody.
Ugh, I half hate you for making me defend him even in the tiniest way, but she was 20 in those nude photos not 14. (I just googled to check.) Not that it makes it okay. Still gross and creepy. I just think it’s important to be accurate.
Unless you can give a good citation, I think you might’ve mis-remembered.
She was not 14 but in fact of legal age (17 I believe) when he took the photos. Still wrong to most reasonable people. Doesn’t mean he wasn’t grooming her for a long while before that. He’s a creep/ predator who took away any sense of normal, safe family life she had gotten from Mia. She always looks like a hostage in every photo. Everyone that works with him is dead to me.
I could be wrong, as I do not have a perfect memory or anything, but I remember when the whole thing came out and the story was that she was under legal age. I don’t have time to try to look it up, but that’s what came out at the time. I am positive that she was no where near twenty or in college. She was still living with Mia at the time the pictures were taken, and there was a lot of speculation about her level of intelligence and whether or not she could even finish high school. She may have been older when the story came out, but I believe that she was underage when the pictures were taken. Woody Allen has put out so much false information about his situation with Dylan and Mia. But apologies if I’m wrong about that.
Even if she was 20 what makes it creepy regardless is that he was dating Mia all through the 80s and was around Soon Yi as a kid. To think he must have been lustng after her and grooming her is still extremely creepy. You don’t seduce your girlfriend’s daughter who you’ve known since she was a child. It’s wrong any way you slice it. I think he has justified it in his mind. He really thinks he did nothing wrong.
@cubfan
That might be wishful thinking on your part.
Personally I hope that’s true – but you should know that the common assumption is that given Woody’s seeming fascination with pubescent human beings and younger, that his interest (grooming) of Soon Yi may have started much earlier than the bs timeline Allen gave as damage control when he was discovered as having taken pornographic pics of his stepdaughter.
I read there’s documented evidence of Allen taking Soon Yi to basketball games when she was in 9th grade (alone). When he came in to her life she was only 9 or 10 years old. Not too much older than Dylan Farrow, when she reported abuse to her mom herself. Though I read witnesses and farrow had allen in therapy long before that, as they thought he was inappropriate with Dylan at ages even younger than 7.
Think about it.
Changing gears…I always wonder if Allen’s adopted girls with Soon Yi who by all accounts are/were very protective are on message boards defending him. It was rumored at least one of them did that quite a bit. Makes me sad. Hope they’re okay.
Only people who know for sure how old she was in the pictures are her and woody. Would be difficult to date a nude picture. So either side could boost the age up or down to support their argument.
Both sides also tell different stories about her intelligence. I’d love to know the truth to that but soon yi isn’t talking.
@GNAT, and @Tara
Your recollections are similar to mine.
I’ve read a lot about this over the years, and even for those Allen supporters who want to believe HIS ‘damage control,’ version (she was technically an adult, blah blah) – they need to go back and read the accounts of Soon Yi’s emotional and intellectual capacity/maturity at the time.
There is much evidence to suggest that she was not only learning disabled or slow (it’s one of the reasons I believe Allen overcompensates in his rare interviews and never fails to bring up Soon Yi’s supposed academic achievement – a degree from here, grad school coursework there – which by the way, are easily attained when your fath- i mean husband, is a millionaire and can afford the best tutors and private teachers), but it was said her emotional maturity was several years younger than her actual age, and that she was not a social child, teen or young woman, byt sheltered, anti-social and of course, was a virgin.
So double and triple yuck that Allen honed in.
Even best case scenario , if you believe Allen’s PR and damage control (that she was 18-20, Soon Yi’s true age is unknown due to no known records of her birth date in Korea, but… as Tara said he had known her from a young child) – bottomline then, from her parents (Mia and Andre) those who knew her and her siblings, she was a stunted, cloistered and slow kid who was all kinds of vulnerable.
Also to @Danielle, you are right..Soon Yi isn’t talking. There’s probably a reason for that.
I personally think there’s a reason for that. I have a feeling if Allen’s camp thought she could handle it, they would have gladly let her be interviewed. But they never have. Speaks volumes.
We’re really fighting about her age? SHE COULD BE 90 IN THE PICTURES BUT HE STILL TOOK PICTURES OF HIS GIRLFRIENDS CHILD, NUDE. Her age just makes the situation worse, but the act in itself is vile. He’s a pig.
Soon-Yi was thought to be 5 – 7 years old when Mia adopted her in 1978. Mia found the pics in 1992.
Exactly. So he’s saying that he has provided for her in a way that Mia Farrow and Andre Previn couldn’t? She would have been out on the streets of NY if it hadn’t been for him?
Regardless, the fact that he presents himself as some kind of benefactor for his wife is just awful. I can’t imagine if my husband felt this way, as I would never feel like his equal partner. I guess Soon-yi has stayed with him all this time out of gratefulness then? Which is sad, because it makes her seem more like a pet than a true partner.
Gratefulness or Stockholm syndrome.
This! It was Mia and Andre Previn who gave her that second chance. This disgusting pedo ruined her life and her family, ugghh he makes me so sick!
That description of how he’s been able to take Soon-Yi around Europe and make her so sophisticated that she’s ‘just become a different person’ is so, so creepy. It’s like he thinks of her as some exotic conversation piece he picked up from far away and has had polished to his standards over the years.
Exactly right. Exactly.
I commented before reading this. That quote is just plain weird.
I feel like I need a cold hose and some of that delousing powder you see in prison movies
My breakfast is curdling in my stomach reading this —
Woody Allen and the take out food I had last Friday have a lot in common……they both made me vomit.
No one lives forever- not even him. Will be interesting to see what happens to Soon-Yi when he is no longer around. And the “off with UNICEF or whatever” sarcasm re Mia. I guess when it’s all about YOUR life, work, pleasure, it’s hard to imagine someone caring about other people. That movie was always going to be a dud, but now? And it opens Cannes? Yup, way to get folks talking about your movie.
It says something that his only biological child cut him out of his life long ago.
deleted
“Will be interesting to see what happens to Soon-Yi when he is no longer around.”
This woman reportedly has an IQ just above the level of intellectual disability. She was reportedly hand held through high school and college. I seriously doubt she has any emotional intellegence either. She spent her early years on the street, it would be shocking to me if she didnt have some attachment issues. She ran off with her first much older bf and reportedly has little social life. She has also been shielded from the real world by her daddy-husbands money. I’m guessing she will be completely lost if he dies.
Yes, I think it will be his daughters that finally out him not Soon-Yi.
Attachment disorders for kids who are neglected early in life run very, very deep. After learning about the kind of damage that is done when a small child is alone like that, I can understand how Soon-yi ended up with Woody.
She’s never been on her own after her traumatic time as a street child. Her own mother beat and rejected her, and Soon Yi rejected and hurt Mia. She can’t understand family bonds, only the relief of submission to a domineering personality. There’s no way she can cope with widowhood, when that day comes. She’ll be easy and grateful prey for the first manipulative asshole lusting after her money.
Soon-Yi has a masters degree and taught school after she graduated.
If you watch the documentary Wild Man Blues about Woody’s touring Europe with his band, Soon-Yi bosses him around through the whole movie.
I saw the documentary too and she tells him what to do. She was quite bossy. It seemed to be quite the opposite of what everyone is saying on the board.
We obviously don’t know if she is actually learning disabled. She seemed pretty intelligent in the movie.
Their relationship is all kinds of gross but I am not so sure about Soon Yi being controlled as a mature woman.
Utter filth. Die faster asshole
I’ve just set up a Silkwood shower if anyone’s interested. You still may need to rinse twice after this interview.
And then when she gets old, he goes and adopts two more younger versions of her. I cringe when I see pictures of him with his “daughters”. Pedophiles offend at a higher rate than any other criminal group and are considered to be unable to rehabilitate.
He doesn’t need to adopt more victims. Soon Yi gave birth to two of them for him.
I didn’t realize that. Thanks for clarifying. I cringe when I see pictures of him with the girls, it’s just so sad and foul.
Soon Yi did not give birth – they adopted the girls.
They’re actually adopted.
I know I shiver whenever I see pictures of him with his daughters…. hope against hope that nothing terrible has happened to them.
He should have never been allowed to adopt. And notice he adopted younger versions of Soon Yi as you said. That is so beyond creepy.
What! I thought his/their adopted were tall and pretty.. One white one maybe Asian? I don’t see any resemblance to soon-yi.
The girls are both adopted. One (Bechet) is Asian, very like Soon-Yi was but prettier; the other (Manzie) is a tall white girl. Soon-yi never had a baby.
Yet this marriage lasted 20+ years in Hollywood & is still solid. Thats saying a lot of crazy sh*t
A marriage can last due to many reasons, not all of them god.
Easier to keep a marriage together when one of them holds all the power and the other is in emotional servitude, having been cut off from her original adoptive family by the predatory father figure who is now her husband. A kind of Stockholm Syndrome sets in emotionally in such an unequal pairing, especially when the much-younger one has lost her family as a result of this relationshio with a pedophile.
The emotional power might be completely different. Based on the observations that she bosses him around, she may be threatening to out him for a pederast unless he does what she says. After all, some times the power changes hands.
Long lasting marriages say nothing. Many long lasting marriages are total horror shows.
Please don’t view this as a 20 year marriage. It’s more of a 20 year capture. I was disgusted and freaked out when it first started, and somehow with this interview, he has made me feel worse. I agree with someone upstream. He is a word master. He chose the word “pleasure” VERY carefully. I could throw up.
My thoughts continue to go out to Mia Darrow and the family he utterly destroyed and blew apart to satisfy his own twisted perversions.
Piggybacking on Bridget’s remark above, there’s some serious co-dependency going on with Woody The Dominant and Soon-Yi The Subordinate. Her childhood neglect is enough to see why she would be caught in such a dysfunctional relationship that feels “normal” to her.
He is a narcissistic pedophile and I will be glad for the world when he’s gone for good.
Solid? Seriously? When someone asks your husband what you have contributed to his life and all he can talk about is how great he has been for you, that’s not solid.
She has nowhere else to go but to stay with him. He took her away from her family and I’m sure he controls the money. She is more a mental hostage than wife.
I think it’s because he groomed her. He seduced his girlfriends daughter and got away with it and he likes being in the position of being in complete control of her. Notice it’s all about what he did for her.
You cannot be serious.
If they left that marriage, where could either one of them go where they wouldn’t be viewed with suspicion and disgust? Work is one thing, as it seems Hollywood has made a deal with the devil but let’s be clear, there are very few sane sober minded people who would let either one of them near their families.
Why wouldn’t we let Soon-Yi near our families? She’s the victim in this. If she were able to leave, to break out of the grooming and mental prison and tell the truth, she would be embraced. Well… maybe not in Hollywood, which still adores Woody Allen like they adore Roman Polanski. But out here among those of us who have this strange idea that sexual abuse is wrong, Soon-Yi would be welcome.
Just the photo and headline alone made me sick to my stomac.
“She’s very sophisticated and has been to all the great capitals of Europe.” > That is a weird ideia. How does that make one sophisticated?
I agree with everyone that it’s creepy how he talks about Soon-yi, but to me it sounds like he talks about her like she’s his adopted child as opposed to as a random benefactor. Which she is. Gross.
“She was an orphan on the streets, living out of trash cans and starving as a 6-year-old. And she was picked up and put in an orphanage. And so I’ve been able to really make her life better.”
This, so in his mind he saved her, made her, changed her life. Didn’t Mia adopted her before even getting into a relationship with him?
Yet nothing happens, he keeps working and doing his “art”
Oh wow. I just read the letter Mia wrote. That poor baby girl. What a monster! And people still work with him?!?! I would tell that man what cliff to jump off of if he ever asked me to be in one of this stupid movies. He married his adopted step daughter and abused her I guarantee…of course he did these evil things to Mia. I just lost so much respect for Blake Lively!!! She has a baby and another on the way?! Why would you work for this evil monster? Stories like this piss me off so bad.
I read it…..poor Dylan.
I’ve lost respect for every actor who’s worked with him. It sucks.
The fact that he continues to flourish makes my stomach turn. Actors fawn over him. His pose on that magazine like he’s such a lovable little curmudgeon. I could really just push him off the edge of a cliff.
I agree with all the thoughts above.
It just shows how incredibly narcissistic most actors are. They don’t give a crap if he harms children so long as it’s not their children they could care less.
It’s disgusting. Selling your soul for money and fame. It’s not worth it. I wouldn’t shake his hand for $1000.
I am so with you guys.
Love how he glosses over that 8-10 year gap between the orphanage and when he started making her life better(banging her). Yeah, those years with Mia were just terrible weren’t they? At the time the guano hit the fan I believe she complained that she sometimes had to help watch the younger children. Horrors! Child labor! I’m actually glad they found each other as they are perfect together-Mr. Douche and Mrs. Douchette.
I was starting to feel sorry for her, but I do remember that she supposedly turned against the person who really did help her.
She came across as an arrogant, dim person during that time, so I will save my sympathy for someone more deserving.
I can’t edit my post but not the letter Mia wrote, the letter Dylan wrote******
The marriage has lasted because Soon Yi doesnt know any better he was her father, then lover then husband she never dated like a normal teen or had a normal type relationship cause what she has with Woody is far from healthy or normal. It sounds like he makes sure she knows she should be grateful for the life she has got with him and how much better she is being partnered with him. Exactly what has she done? She went to college has she worked? Or has she been at his beck and call all these years? It scares me that they have children I wouldnt trust him as far as I could throw him.
You all have said what needs to be said about his sick sense of self and distorted view of relationships. I just want to add that his life is not “middle class.” He’s a rich man with time on his hands who pursues his hobbies when actual middle class people are working for half of what they used to or living with relatives because they lost their house.
He is repugnant.
I felt like I needed to shower after reading that article. So disgusting.
He takes all the credit for her personal growth. He doesn’t admire her work or attributes that brought her where she is, just what he believes he has done for her. Like she’s his creation.
I can’t bring myself to watch any of his movies or support him in any way. He’s vile.
He really likes talking about Soon-Yi “living out of trash cans”.
Woody Allen was the subject of a documentary called “Wild Man Blues” in the late 90s – it followed him & his blues band while they were touring Europe.
I remember one cringeworthy scene where Soon-Yi is checking out their super fancy & enormous hotel suite and he marvels at how she’s been elevated by his wealth, referring to her as “this kid who was eating out of garbage pails in Korea”
Another unfortunate moment was when Woody’s mother says, in front of Soon-Yi, that she wishes Woody had married a “nice Jewish girl”.
In the documentary, you often see Soon-Yi encouraging him to interact politely & graciously with other adults (e.g. “Tell John you appreciated what he did”, “Say hello to those fans”, etc.) – though you don’t get the sense that Soon-Yi’s instructions on how to be a more pleasant person are really sticking.
Oh God, I didn’t know this. The more I read about their “relationship”, the more I feel sick.
The impression I get is that he in some ways looks at Soon-Yi almost like a “valued employee” they have been together for over 20 years but no where in the article is there any indication of any love for his wife. The way they got together is very disgusting and disturbing and I am not a Woody Allen supporter by any means. That most of the article just seemed more like a listing of Soon-Yi’s accomplishments on her resume. Also the part of how Woody Allen said he has “not changed” in 20 years gave me a chill.
Exactly. What kind of narcissist would you have to be to be completely unchanged (or at least claim to be) by a TWENTY YEAR relationship?
Repulsive. The fact that he’s never taken any responsibility for his disgustingly inappropriate behavior in seducing a teenager, his partner’s daughter no less, is mind blowing.
Horrible as it is, that’s probably because he doesn’t think he did anything wrong.
Yes, that is precisely the problem–he thinks he did nothing wrong. And now is casting himself as some hero who saved her. No, her adoptive mother, whom they betrayed, saved her. Creep, please!
This deep shudder and need for a scalding shower i just had at the title, cant even read the post
I seriously almost threw up in my mouth reading this yesterday.
He sounds like the classic predator, he took this “young, poor, ethnic” girl and made her better. He made her something more than she would have been in his eyes, like she should be so grateful that he chose her.
He is absolutely vile and I can’t believe so many people still work with him.
He IS the classic predator, protected by wealth and artistic reputation, such as it is.
The interesting thing is that he went after two young girls in Mia’s home, but Soon-Yi was the one who ended up with him while Dylan was repulsed. Soon-Yi spent her formative years in Korea being indoctrinated with the belief that women are disposable, second class citizens, traditional Korean men are notoriously sexist. Her instincts would have been to alien herself with a strong, alpha male to survive. I believe this is part of the reason she rejected Mia and took shelter with Woody, he used this to his full advantage. So, I don’t think it was so much that he was looking for an ethnic girl in particular, just a girl who was vulnerable enough to be manipulated.
Be glad you didn’t. The whole interview just cements his vileness.
Well, I do agree with him about NY over LA…he’s just so gross and I hate myself for loving his movies.
Looking at his repulsive photo, I can’t help thinking how true the adage is that by a certain age everyone deserves the face they have. It’s the image of a self-serving and self-deceiving pedophile who has no loyalty to anyone but himself and who follows his own desires with reckless abandon, completely oblivious of the damage and human destruction he has caused all around him.
“She’s very sophisticated and has been to all the great capitals of Europe” You know, as soon as someone starts with this nonsense I side eye the sh!t out of them (not that I wouldn’t already be side eyeing this particular person for other reasons, but that’s beside my point). Listen, Europe is great-I’ve lived there and visit frequently. However, that being said, going to Europe does not make you sophisticated, and there is a whole wide world beyond Europe with other beautiful, sophisticated cities. In fact, there are quite a few of them in his wife’s home country-wonder if he’s ever bothered to visit?
I rolled my eyes at that too! That quote makes him seem like the pretentious pseudo intellectual sophisticates he used to always make fun of in his films.
He groomed her and he’s proud of it. Behold the overwhelming smugness of a predator who got away with it. It’s what monsters like him dream of. I have not watched one of his films, I can’t stand looking at him. I can only pray that Karma makes a visit. Ugh, look how he clutches her arm. So disgusting.
It was the South Korean state that saved her. They took her off the streets, placed her in a safe envoûtement and found a seemedly good home for her.
Her parents made a choice to expand their family via adoption.
That may have been one of the most disturbing things I have ever read. I mean just wow.
Well, isn’t he quite the Henry Higgins?
And so dismissive of Mia Farrow’s work for Unicef. How gauche to protect children, eh Woody? I guess preying on them seems to be more “pleasurable” for you. Asshole.
It’s disgusting. He got away with abusing a young girl who relied on him as a guiding force. She has no world but him and that’s what he wanted. They have adopted 2 young girls. How he wasn’t denied can only be because of money.
Anyone who works with him should be ashamed. They help Iegitimize this pedophile because he’s Woody Allen who once made great films. He’s depraved and criminal.
I don’t watch his movies anymore. I only think of his behavior and it turns my stomach and turns me off his films.
Me too.
Yep, I used to live for the next Woody Allen film, but the last time I slunk into a theater to see one I felt so guilty that I knew it was wrong of me to go. So I won’t go again.
Likewise. I used to be first in line when one came to town. That was 20+ years ago, though.
Except for maybe one film, all of the Woody Allen films I’ve seen are mediocre…………and even then, it creeps me out (I watched them before I knew anything about his personal life), because you can basically see into the mind of a creeper. Almost all of his films have to deal with the themes of younger woman=good, older woman=shrew who won’t have sex with me……….and it’s like….ugh. It creeps me out. Because that is his justification for doing what he did/is currently doing.
THANK YOU VC.
I’ve never ever understood what “genius” people supposedly see in this gross creep. Every single one of his movies is just an overblown fantasy where neurotic older weirdo gets the young hot girl, and blows off his older wife or partner of many years to do so, in multiple variations. Absolutely f-king awful.
@vc. Yeah, now thinking about Manhattan is just Yeeewww.
I used to be a HUGE fan. Once all this came out, all those years ago, I haven’t even been able to watch the old films that I owned. I threw them all out; I won’t even watch one that comes on free tv. What a POS.
please women and MEN: stop praising his work bad or good that is, stop watching his movies, stop giving him a voice and attention. This pig like every other egomaniac and narcissistic loves the attention and the praise and the money as much as any other fame-wh–re, let’s hit him where it hurts him.
Everyone has said exactly how I feel about this monster. I was pretty heart broken when Cate and Colin worked with this pig. I have never felt the same about them since 🙁
And the sick thing is actors are still going to continue working with this disgusting individual. Hollywood is completely morally bankrupt.
I need a cold shower quick!
As an adopted child, I think dating your adopted daughter/son should be illegal. Woody (and Morgan freeman) should both be in some kind of treatment program/child sexual offender registry. It’s morally and socially wrong in my eyes. Who does that and thinks it’s ok? Oh right, Hollyweird.
What? Morgan Freeman dated one of his adopted kids? Ewww
Well, to be fair Freeman denies it, but it was a strong story for a while and even Huffington Post picked it up. She was his step-grandchild, raised by him and his wife from early childhood. (Sadly, she was later murdered by a boyfriend in an “Exorcist-like” stabbing in NYC.) So no one knows if the story of a ten-year relationship from the time she was 17 is true, but both she and Freeman denied it. Here’s the link to coverage in HuffPo about the rumored relationship:
http://www.theinsider.com/news/2403022_Morgan_Freeman_Plans_to_Marry_Step_granddaughter_E_Dena_Hines
He never technically adopted her but he was her father figure since she was 7 til 18. Then dated her and married her. Which to me is still illegal and cruel and unusual punishment.
Just dropped by to say EWWWW!!!
Ugh, I love how he takes all the credit, but what about what Mia Farrow did for her? Soon Yi was really unlikable in this documentary I saw with Woody Allen years ago. She seemed like she just liked the lifestyle of being the industry wife. And Woody has this sick obsession with young females. He wants to be in the position of total control. Notice it’s all about what he does for her when he wasn’t even asked that. I am so tired of all the same storylines in so many of his films involving a young woman and old man. Just because he’s talented he gets away with his creepy tendencies more than he should. Most of his films aren’t even good any more. His best days were with Diane Keaton. Now he casts all these mediocre actresses for their looks like Blake Lively and Scarlett Johansson just so he can be around them. It’s creepy. Not surprised he defended Polanski.
OMG what did Morgan freeman do?! I guess I love under a rock.
See link above under #44. It’s never been confirmed, though many believed it for a long time.
He was involved with his step grand daughter. She ended up dead mysteriously recently.
Projectile vomiting. effing pedo.
Their “love story” sounds more like the plot of a Law and Order SVU episode.
Ugh I wish he would just go away. That whole interview was unacceptable.
He’s so jaded and oblivious. He would never admit to any shady behavior. He’s disgusting. I hope those kids are okay!
If my husband, after 27 years of marriage, said about me “she’s given me a lot of pleasure” , I’d slap him. Not “love” or “happiness” but “pleasure”? That’s all she’s for him? Seriously, what an inconsiderate, manipulative, self-involved thing to say. And then the comments about her being groomed by him, like he’s some kind of Pygmalion. I didn’t think it was possible to have such condescending and almost colonial attitude these days and yet he’s getting away with it.
Question is: how long does he get a work pass. How many movies must we watch his movies. If Cosby is a persona non grata… Woody is a real pedophile unconvicted yes, but doesn’t mean he’s not a disgrace.
Ive not been able to support his work in over 10 years.
That last quote describes exactly what a narcissist feels about love: they don’t love their partners for their own sake, they love the way that person makes them feel or how good they reflect on them. Yuck.
Yup. And the lack of guilt/shame/remorse for his behavior might imply sociopathy beyond the plain-old narcissism. He’s disgraceful and so are the people who work with him. Really goes to show what kind of people Hollywood stars truly are.
I find his wording so disconcerting. Very narcissistic and disgusting. I’ve always thought his movies were overrated anyway before the whole soon-yi thing. Oh and it was MIA that truly saved her. Screw this guy.
Mia Farrow is the one who gave her a life that would have enabled endless possibilities, including in matters of choosing a partner one day. He prefers to believe he has given her opportunities and a good life, but in exploiting this young girl from a troubled background, he robbed her of the greatest pursuit in life – love. Perhaps Soon-Yi is happy in her life, but it is common for exploited children to be tricked into believing they’re in a loving, consensual relationship.
“Awww so happy for Woody and Soon-Yi said no one (sane) EVER.”
GROSS
PEDOPHILE!!
Whether he felt “immune” to the criticism when he started dating Soon-Yi: “I was immune, yes I was. You can see I worked right through that, undiminished. Made films all through those years and at the same rate I was making them. I’m good that way.
Dear readers, this is how you spot a clinical Narcissist. Personality disorders galore with this guy and he’s turned them into his “art.”
“I provided her with enormous opportunities, and she has sparked to them. She’s educated herself and has tons of friends and children and got a college degree and went to graduate school, and she has traveled all over with me now. She’s very sophisticated and has been to all the great capitals of Europe. ”
He’s quite paternalistic about her and talks like a person from another era.
“all the great capitals of Europe.”
He might as well have said “grand tour.”
I find his films very overrated as well. They’re not 10% as philosophical as he likes to make them out to be. Why didn’t they ask him about his other adopted daughter, the one he sexually abused as a toddler or baby?
it is digusting that she was his stepdaughter and become his wife
I wish I could projectile vomit all over the two of them.
Oh my God, ANTS. ANTS CRAWLING UP MY F*CKING SKIN AND ALL OVER MY BODY. He talks about her the way somebody speaks of a child, and it seriously makes me gag thinking about what this poor women has been through. This is him boasting over and over again that he took advantage of an neglected, abused child, and it makes me so angry, I want to spit.
This. He’s boasting. The worst abusers, the truly disgusting ones who have zero empathy and who find their greatest joy in hurting others, like to hide in plain sight. They like to boast about what they’ve done and what they’re doing. Not only do they show off this way, but they humiliate their victims and hurt total strangers who do have empathy.
Look at all the people only in this thread who are actively nauseated by what Allen said. (I am too.) He hurt SO many women just with this one little interview — and his words were chosen to do so. And the Hollywood Reporter enabled him.
So gross that he congratulates himself for giving her so many opportunities. YOU WERE HER FATHER, that’s what parents do.
Also, could he have picked a worse word than ‘pleasure’ when describing his wife/daughter? It was clearly deliberate.
He is so vile.
The ONLY reason he married that child was to stop any possibility of prosecution. Which means his lawyers must have told him some pretty terrifying scenarios. I do not mean this personally but Soon Yi is quite plain, has no spark of intelligence or joie de vive like all the other women he was publicly attached to. Really, no shade on her, I am no cover girl myself but world famous, wealthy, sophisticated directors are like most men – they are with idealized women.
And of course she bosses him around. She never learned about normal give and take in adult relationships and, here is the cold hard fact that I hope ruined his life, he can never leave her, cheat on her or make her unhappy. All together now, tell me why.
EXCELLENT post @Cindy +1 to infinity. He was trapped, and he knew it, he couldn’t walk away from the girl after destroying her only lifeline and support system. The fact that he had two vulnerable little girls in his care post Soon Yi’s exit from adolescence. Creeps me out. The book those two kids could write. Ugh
This makes my skin crawl! Im having same wibes when I see him as when Terry Richardson – repulsive, sick man
Woody Allen is one of multiple reasons I do not watch movies any longer. Roman Polanski’s another. And all the other sexual abuse facts about Hollywood that are constantly coming out. Hollywood worships and defends these scumbags.
People condemn Johnny Depp for his scarves and marrying Amber Heard, but what makes me despise him is his defense of Roman Polanski. People scoff at Kristen Stewart’s lip-biting, but the reason I have no respect for her is that she worked with Woody Allen, and my opinion of Cate Blanchett is also in the tank from her doing the same. Hollywood rallies around men who sexually abuse girls and women on a consistent basis, and there are no movies good enough these days for me to overcome my disgust about that.
Mia Farrow’s memoir “what falls away” was a good read. Among other tidbits, I learned “Dear Prudence” by the Beatles was written in honor of Mia’s sister. Anyway, if I recall correctly, Mia believed Woodster started a sexual relationship with her daughter when she was 17. Not the “19 or 20 year old” line that was projected.
I’m so heartened by reading these comments. Woody Allen is vile and I’ve been shouting that loudly for years only to hear others defend him and his movies b/c that excuses you from being a decent person apparently. WTF!
The article was sickening but I’m happy there are so many people who are vocal about pointing out the creeps, the abusers, and the scum. You rock!
What kind of a nonsense ‘my fair lady’ f****y is that? 😀
He’s a racist, sexist, vile man. Propably with NPD.
He is just gross.