Woody Allen sexual abuse allegation

In August 1992, American filmmaker and actor Woody Allen was alleged by actress Mia Farrow to have sexually molested their adoptive daughter Dylan Farrow, then aged seven, in Mia Farrow's home in Bridgewater, Connecticut. Allen has repeatedly denied the allegation, which was investigated and dismissed by both the judge in the custody case and New York Social Services. In Connecticut it was investigated without charges being filed.

When the allegation was made, Allen and Mia Farrow had been in a romantic relationship for 12 years. They had three children together: two adopted, Dylan and Moses, and one biological, Satchel (now known as Ronan Farrow). The sexual abuse is alleged to have taken place eight months after Farrow learned Allen and Soon-Yi Previn, whom Farrow adopted with her former husband André Previn, had begun a sexual relationship in December 1991. Previn was a 21-year-old first-year student when the sexual relationship began. Farrow learned of the relationship in January 1992, which Allen and Previn say was within two weeks of its start; a fact confirmed by the NY Supreme and Appellate courts. Allen alleged the relationship prompted Farrow to concoct the molestation allegation concerning Dylan as an act of vengeance. The Connecticut State's Attorney investigated the allegation but did not press charges, stating a trial would be 'questionable' and 'fertile ground for defense attacks' and referrring to the NY Supreme Court's decision to not give credence to the allegation. During the investigation the Connecticut State Police referred Dylan to the Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of Yale–New Haven Hospital, which concluded that Allen had not sexually abused Dylan and the allegation was probably coached or influenced by Mia Farrow. The New York Department of Social Services found "no credible evidence" to support the allegation.

In response to the allegation, Allen sued Farrow for sole custody of Dylan, Satchel, and Moses. He lost the case in June 1993, though the judge agreed that the allegation of sexual abuse had not been proven and the preponderance of the evidence indicated no abuse. Visitations with Dylan were to be resumed within six months, as soon as Dylan had recovered from what she had suffered during the initial custody case, while Allen was given limited, supervised visitation with Satchel; Moses, a teenager, was allowed to decide for himself. The decision was upheld on appeal in 1994 and 1995.

Dylan has repeated the allegation several times as an adult, although with modifications of Mia's 1992 narrative. Her first public comment was in an interview with Maureen Orth for Vanity Fair in 2013, followed by an open letter in the New York Times in 2014 and a Los Angeles Times op-ed in December 2017. Allen has also spoken publicly about the allegation, in a New York Times op-ed and in 2018 in a statement to CBS News, each time denying it, and referring to the unanimous conclusions of multiple judicial investigations that exonerated him. Mia is accused of child abuse by two of her children, Moses and Soon-Yi, who also accuse her of false allegations and of "brainwashing" Dylan. In a 2018 letter posted online, Moses—who was 14 at the time of the allegations—wrote that he felt a responsibility "as the man of the house" to carefully watch Dylan and others the afternoon she was allegedly molested, and explained in detail why he believes the allegation is false. He calls his coerced support of Mia the biggest mistake of his life. He tweeted, "So many times I saw my mother try to convince her that she was abused—and it has worked."