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Dylan Farrow Pens an Open Letter About Woody Allen’s Sexual Abuse

Woody Allen’s alleged sexual abuse of his adoptive daughter, Dylan Farrow, came to a head once again during this year’s Golden Globes. Today, Dylan opened up publicly for the first time about the childhood trauma. Writing an open letter on Nicholas Kristof’s NYTimes blog, she detailed the questionable proclivities Woody Allen had and how it’s affected her throughout her life.

What’s your favorite Woody Allen movie? Before you answer, you should know: when I was seven years old, Woody Allen took me by the hand and led me into a dim, closet-like attic on the second floor of our house. He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother’s electric train set. Then he sexually assaulted me. He talked to me while he did it, whispering that I was a good girl, that this was our secret, promising that we’d go to Paris and I’d be a star in his movies. I remember staring at that toy train, focusing on it as it traveled in its circle around the attic. To this day, I find it difficult to look at toy trains.

There came a point where she even thought it was normal.

These things happened so often, so routinely, so skillfully hidden from a mother that would have protected me had she known, that I thought it was normal. I thought this was how fathers doted on their daughters. But what he did to me in the attic felt different. I couldn’t keep the secret anymore.

Even though Mia Farrow got her away from Allen, the damage was done. In fact, it was worsened by child psychologists attacking her credibility and having to see his face on tv winning awards and accolades.

Last week, Woody Allen was nominated for his latest Oscar. But this time, I refuse to fall apart. For so long, Woody Allen’s acceptance silenced me. It felt like a personal rebuke, like the awards and accolades were a way to tell me to shut up and go away. But the survivors of sexual abuse who have reached out to me – to support me and to share their fears of coming forward, of being called a liar, of being told their memories aren’t their memories – have given me a reason to not be silent, if only so others know that they don’t have to be silent either.

She gives a pretty good guilt trip to.

What if it had been your child, Cate Blanchett? Louis CK? Alec Baldwin? What if it had been you, Emma Stone? Or you, Scarlett Johansson? You knew me when I was a little girl, Diane Keaton. Have you forgotten me?

To note, Woody Allen was never found guilty of the allegations but the rich and powerful rarely are. Though at least this open letter will give a few actors some pause in working with Woody again. At least until they catch a whiff of the potential Oscar they might win.

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