Hollywood director Woody Allen has responded to the open letter issued by Dylan Farrow claiming that her former adoptive father had sexually abused her at a young age.
Farrow wrote a hard-hitting open letter to the New York Times on Saturday re-issuing her former claims that she had been the subject of assault from as young as seven-years-old.
According to the Irish Times, Allen has hit back at Farrow denying any abuse and that the allegations were “untrue and disgraceful.”
Allen’s publicist Leslee Dart said that Allen had read Dylan’s letter and has dismissed the claims.
Ms. Farrow went on to describe abusive behaviour in the letter but did not specify Allen’s actions. She claimed in the letter that Allen had sexually assaulted her in a “dim, closet-like attic.”
Allen was first investigated for the allegations back in 1992 when Woody Allen split from Dylan’s mother, Mia Farrow.
When the matter was first investigated, Litchfield County state attorney Frank Maco claimed there was “probable cause” to charge Mr. Allen but decided that a trial might be too much for the young girl to go through, according to the Times.
Later, a disciplinary panel found there may have been some prejudice from the initial comments at the press conference. The statute of limitations on Farrow’s allegations ran out at least 15 years ago.
Allen is currently estranged from his “adopted” children with Mia Farrow, Ronan, Dylan and Moses.
UPDATE: Allen’s lawyer Elkan Abramowitz has responded to sexual abuse accusations in a formal statement, according to the Huffington Post: “It is tragic that after 20 years a story engineered by a vengeful lover resurfaces after it was fully vetted and rejected by independent authorities,” he wrote. “The one to blame for Dylan’s distress is neither Dylan nor Woody Allen.”
