Dylan Farrow says the publisher of a new memoir about her estranged father, Woody Allen, committed an “egregious abdication” of basic responsibility by not contacting her about her accusation that Allen sexually abused her when she was seven years old.
Grand Central Publishing, a division of Hachette Book Group, announced Monday that it would publish the Woody Allen memoir, Apropos of Nothing, on April 7. Farrow noted that Hachette had also published Catch and Kill, her brother Ronan Farrow’s account of reporting on #MeToo cases.
“Hachette’s publishing of Woody Allen’s memoir is deeply upsetting to me personally and an utter betrayal of my brother whose brave reporting, capitalized on by Hachette, gave voice to numerous survivors of sexual abuse by powerful men,” she said in a statement on Twitter.
Also Read: Is Woody Allen Guilty? A Timeline of the Dylan Farrow Accusations
“For the record, I was never contacted by any fact-checkers to verify the information in this ‘memoir,’ demonstrating an egregious abdication of Hachette’s most basic responsibility. On the other hand, my story has undergone endless scrutiny and has never been published without extensive fact-checking. This provides yet another example of the profound privilege that power, money and notoriety affords. Hachette’s complicity in this should be called out for what it is and they should have to answer for it.”
Hachette said it would have no comment beyond the statement it released on Monday:
“On April 7th, 2020, Grand Central Publishing (GCP), a division of Hachette Book Group, will publish Apropos of Nothing by Woody Allen, the autobiography of the writer, director, and actor. The book is a comprehensive account of his life, both personal and professional, and describes his work in films, theater, television, nightclubs, and print. Allen also writes of his relationships with family, friends, and the loves of his life.”
Hachette also said Allen would “do several interviews in coordination with the publication.”
Dylan Farrow and her mother, Mia Farrow, accused Allen of sexually assaulting Dylan Farrow in 1992, but an investigation at the time did not lead to any criminal charges against Allen. However, a judge denied Allen custody of Dylan, and cited concerns about the accusation.
The cover of the upcoming Woody Allen memoir Apropos of Nothing
Dylan Farrow gave her side in an open letter in February 2014: “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.”
Dylan Farrow also said Allen had a pattern of inappropriate behavior before the alleged assault: “I didn’t like how often he would take me away from my mom, siblings and friends to be alone with him. I didn’t like it when he would stick his thumb in my mouth. I didn’t like it when I had to get in bed with him under the sheets when he was in his underwear. I didn’t like it when he would place his head in my naked lap and breathe in and breathe out.”
Allen gave his side on 60 Minutes later that year, denying anything occurred: “I’m 57. Isn’t it illogical that I’m going to, at the height of a very bitter, acrimonious custody fight, drive up to Connecticut where nobody likes me in a house — I’m in a house full of enemies. I mean, Mia was so enraged at me and she had gotten all the kids to be angry at me, that I’m going to drive up there, and suddenly, on visitation, pick this moment in my life to become a child molester?”
Allen has held that Mia Farrow coached Dylan Farrow to make the accusation because Mia Farrow was upset that he was dating her daughter, Soon-Y Previn, to whom he has been married since 1997.
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