Woody Allen Discusses ‘Paternal’ Relationship With His Wife
In an interview this week with NPR, director Woody Allen decided to open up on what he calls his “paternal” relationship with his former step-daughter, who is now his wife. The 79-year-old Allen is promoting his new movie, Irrational Man, and in a rare event, he is opening up about how is relationship with his then step-daughter broke up his marriage, and his fatherly feelings for his wife.
Woody Allen says marrying his girlfriend's kid worked out, 'cause he was like her dad: http://t.co/4A0EQ9ufN7
— Complex (@Complex) July 30, 2015
As reported by the Inquisitr, Allen is no stranger to rumors of child molestation and a suggestion of an inappropriate relationship with a young girl. In Mariel Hemingway’s new autobiography, Out Came The Sun, she talked about Woody Allen trying to convince her to travel to Paris with him, while he was staying at her family home in Idaho with her parents. At the time, she was 18, and after confronting Allen to see if they would have separate hotel rooms, he got in his private plane and flew off.
“I’m not going to get my own room, am I? I can’t go to Paris with you.”
The accusations of sexual molestation made by Dylan Farrow at age 7 against her adopted father Woody Allen were also discussed in the interview with NPR, after Dylan recently had an open letter published in the New York Times. Allen said he is currently penning a response to the letter.
“I naïvely thought the accusation would be dismissed out of hand because of course, I hadn’t molested Dylan and any rational person would see the ploy for what it was. Common sense would prevail. After all, I was a 56-year-old man who had never before (or after) been accused of child molestation.”
Woody Allen: I was a ‘paternal’ figure to Soon-Yi Previn – Woody Allen at the 68th annual Cannes Film Festival in … http://t.co/eKHOfwhBig
— Avraham Rabinowitz (@arabinowitz2) July 30, 2015
Woody Allen started his relationship with Soon-Yi Previn (adopted daughter of Mia Farrow and Andre Previn) while he was still in a relationship with Farrow, with whom he shared two adopted children and one biological child.
“I started the relationship with [Previn] and I thought it would just be a fling,” Allen told NPR’s Sam Fragoso, adding that their relationship took on a life of its own. “And the age difference didn’t seem to matter. It seemed to work in our favor actually.”
Allen went on to say that their 35-year age difference really works for them because he’s “paternal.”
“I was paternal. She responded to someone paternal. I liked her youth and energy. She deferred to me, and I was happy to give her an enormous amount of decision making just as a gift and let her take charge of so many things,” he said.
Woody Allen says he was 'paternal' when he began relationship with wife Soon-Yi Previn http://t.co/aGnDnTusUw pic.twitter.com/jcopaLzs1g
— People (@people) July 30, 2015
Needless to say, Woody Allen’s use of the term “paternal” when talking about a woman over 35 years your junior will create a backlash in the media. The Huffington Post called it “creepy” and said “it will make you feel gross.”
Do you think using the word “paternal” sounds creepy coming from Woody Allen?
[Photo courtesy of Fredrick M. Brown and Getty Images]
