From: noraa@cbnewsk.cb.att.com (aaron.l.hoffmeyer)
Newsgroups: alt.dads-rights,soc.men,soc.women,misc.kids
Subject: Allen fights back, denies child abuse
Date: 20 Aug 92 07:03:47 GMT
Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories

By Jeannie Williams

Source: USA Today, August 19, 1992

New York - Filmmaker Woody Allen made a rare public appearance Tuesday
to deny allegations of child abuse and accuse former love Mia Farrow of
demanding $7 million to stop an investigation.

"These totally false and outrageous allegations have sickened me," said
Allen, 56, who's in a custody fight with Farrow.

Connecticut police Tuesday said they had a case involving Allen, but
gave no other details.

Allen said, "This is an unconscionable and gruesomely damaging
manipulation of innocent children for vindictive and self-serving
motives."

He filed suit last week demanding custody of their three children.
Monday, he admitted having a love affair with Farrow's adopted
21-year-old daughter, Soon-Yi Previn.

Farrow's lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, issued a statement saying the police
investigation began before Allen filed suit, and denying money
demands.

"Mr. Allen's custody suit is ... an effort to deflect attention from
ongoing investigations of his conduct," Dershowitz said.

Allen said he tried for eight months to work out "a humane shared
custody" of daughter Dylan, 7, son Moses Amadeus, 14 - both adopted -
and the couple's natural son, Satchel, 4.

The scene was solemn for the former stand-up comedian.

"My one public appearance in years and it's all straight lines," he
said soberly.

========================================================================

Woody and Mia:  He said, she said

By Jeannie Williams

The Woody Allen/Mia Farrow breakup has turned into a war of escalating
accusations, with truth obscured in the barrage.

Accusations of child abuse, blackmail and manipulation have been flying
between the two camps ever since Allen filed suit Thursday to gain
custody of their three children.  Allen and Farrow, who never married
but have been together for 11 1/2 years, recently split and Allen
acknowledged he had fallen in love with Farrow's 21-year-old adopted
daughter, Soon-Yi.

This was followed by news of a Connecticut state police criminal
investigation of sexual abuse allegedly involving Allen.

The latest:  On Tuesday, Allen, 56, appeared serious and nervous at The
Plaza hotel when he read a statement saying that he has been accused by
Farrow of child abuse against their adopted daughter, Dylan, 7.

Not true, he says, labeling the accusations "a currently popular though
heinous card played in all too many child-custody fights."

He said he had tried for eight months to work out a shared custody
arrangement of Dylan, adopted son Moses Amadeus, 14, and their
biological son, Satchel, 4 1/2.

Allen also accused Farrow and her lawyers of demanding $7 million from
him in exchange for dropping their charges.

Farrow's lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, countered with a statement Tuesday
characterizing Allen as having "his facts all wrong.  Connecticut
authorities initiated the investigation *before* Mr. Allen filed his
custody suit ... There was never any `demand' by Ms. Farrow's lawyers
for 7 million dollars or any other sum of money.... Ms. Farrow has
never been primarily interested in money.  She cares deeply about
protecting her children...."

Farrow's nanny, Kristi Groteke, appeared outside the actress' country
home in Bridgewater, Conn., Tuesday, to read another statement: "Miss
Farrow does not want the case tried in the press."  Daisy Previn, 17,
another of Farrow's adopted children, said Farrow is "the best mother
there is."

Allen reconfirmed Tuesday his love for Soon-Yi.  The "one thing I have
been guilty of is falling in love with Miss Farrow's adult daughter at
the end of our years together."

His custody suit continues with a hearing Aug. 25.

========================================================================

Woody vs. Mia

Shock amid the scandal

Woody, Mia and their kids are the talk of the country.  People are
shocked.  Fans are dismayed.  New York tabloids are having a field
day.

It's hard to name a celeb family feud that's matched the ugly, surprise
punch of the murky Woody Allen vs. Mia Farrow scandal.

Until this week, Allen was generally viewed as an eccentric but lovable
star, who lived a quiet work- and family-centered life.

Now come screaming accusations of sexual molestation of children.
Counter-accusations of bribery.  His own declaration of his love for
Farrow's college-age daughter.

"IT'S SOLO MIA" blared New York's _Daily News_ Friday, when Allen filed
suit for custody of the couple's son Satchel, 4 1/2, and two other kids
they adopted - son Moses, 14, and daughter Dylan, 7.

"WOODY LOVES MIA'S DAUGHTER," blasted the _New York Post_ Monday when
word of Allen's affair with Soon-Yi Previn, 21, hit the news.
Tuesday's _Post_ trumpeted: "MIA'S GOT NUDE PIX" - photos of Previn
reportedly snapped in Allen's apartment.

"IT'S GETTING UGLY," warned _New York Newsday_.

_The New York Times_ ran a Tuesday story more discreetly headlined"
Public Disclosures From the Private Life of Woody Allen."

Tuesday, New York's WNYW TV said on-air that it had a tape of Farrow
questioning Dylan "that seems to support Farrow's allegations of
abuse.  The child seems nervous and shaken."  WNYW's Ted Faraone said
the tape came from an unnamed source and wasn't aired at the request of
Farrow's and Allen's lawyers.

Also Tuesday, _National Enquirer_ helicopters hovered over Drew
University in Madison, N.J., where Soon-Yi is at school.  Reporters
clamored in front of Farrow's estate in Bridgewater, Conn., where she
is in seclusion.

Many Allen fans are confused and appalled.

The scandal puts "a pall over his works and reputation," says Peter
Levine, a Falls Church, Va., physician.  "It's disappointing and it
does change the way I feel about him."

	- Karen Thomas, Lisa Faye Kaplan

========================================================================

Excerpts from Woody

"Over the years I have ... assiduously avoided publicity.  Because,
however, of the rumors, innuendos and cruel untruths circulating ... I
feel I must make a statement.

"First, I am greatly saddened that sources close to Mia Farrow have
released to the public allegations instigated by her of child abuse on
my part.  This my lawyers tell me is a currently popular though heinous
card played in all too many of child custody fights, and while
sometimes effective, the tragedy of programming one's child to
cooperate is unspeakable.

"The truth is that I have tried in private for the past eight months to
work out the details of humane, shared custody.... I hoped that despite
many conflicts and much anger, that with calm and compromises I could
obtain an agreement in the best interests of the children.  Then,
suddenly and appallingly I was accused of having molested my beloved
7-year-old daughter and hysterically the next day of molesting my dear
4 1/2 year-old son.  (This last allegation has quietly vanished, I
suppose because its substance was too insane even for the instigator to
stay with.)

"These totally false and outrageous allegations have sickened me so, I
felt that for the sake of all my three children I must try and remove
them from an atmosphere so unhealthy it can surely leave irreparable
scars.  This is an unconscionable and gruesomely damaging manipulation
of innocent children for vindictive and self-serving motives.

"To make matters more atrocious - if that were possible - several days
ago, attorneys representing the other side called a meeting with my own
informing them that any publicity, even if the allegations are totally
unfounded, would hurt me.  They then proceeded to demand $7 million,
saying that if I submitted to their demands, they would not press the
allegations....

"I did not accept their offer ... and have instructed my lawyers to
cooperate fully in the investigation Miss Farrow instigated.  I have
much to say ... but would prefer not to have to discuss Miss Farrow's
fitness as a parent and the delicate interest of my children in the
press....  The one thing I have been guilty of is falling in love with
Miss Farrow's adult daughter at the end of our own years together and,
painful as that might be, I and certainly the children do not deserve
this form of retribution."

========================================================================

Violating our sense `of the order of things'

Why are we so fascinated by this famous, fractured family?

Because no matter who is telling the truth, children are being hurt,
says social scientist Maggie Scarf.  "Two people who are in charge of
emotionally developing human beings are at each other's throats."

Allen's admitted affair with Farrow's adopted child is "a violation of
the order of things.  The taking-car generation has violated the
generation they are supposed to be taking care of."  Adds psychologist
Shirley Glass:  "We are upset; we have a sense of that violation."

Besides, family values are today's buzz words, "from Murphy Brown to
Woody Allen," says Los Angeles psychologist Robert Butterworth.

Scarf says the situation is riveting because it touches on:

      * Betrayal.  "The duo seemed the perfect '80s alternative
	relationship."

      * Morality.  We can say, "I am much better than that."

      * Fame.  "We have such an ambivalent relationship with our
	icons.  We want to cut them down to human size."

      * Fear.  "We all have a sense we are a little crazy," though we
	might not betray family.

The story is a lot like _Alice in Wonderland_, she says.  "It gets
curiouser and curiouser, and we can't find the sense in it."

	- Karen S. Peterson

========================================================================
End of USA Today coverage
========================================================================

Those of you who have followed my own trek through such a myriad of
allegations made during a custody dispute, must surely understand my
ambivalence at such allegations made against such a respected and
intelligent celebrity.

Woody Allen might be completely innocent of the allegations of sexual
impropriety with his minor children.  However, he admits to
improprieties with his adult step-daughter.  There's the rub.  Many
people will presume his guilt based on their limited knowledge of such
allegations that arise during custody disputes - namely that 80% of
such allegations are blatantly false and that 75% of the accusing
mothers are diagnosed as borderline psychotic personalities (Wakefield
& Underwager) - and will condemn Allen, as the several psychologists
who were interviewed by the many reporters who filed these stories with
_USA Today_ were also so quick to do.

Oftentimes the allegations arise out of hysteria, paranoia, and a
complete lack of trust.  Woody Allen violated Mia Farrow's trust by
seducing his step-daughter.  Mia surely loves all her children equally
and probably feels quite shocked at the affair between her former lover
and her daughter.  She probably feels so violated that she believes if
he would do it to one of her daughters, then why not all her children?
She is probably reacting out of disgust and fear for her children.

Do I believe that Woody Allen committed sexual misconduct with his
minor children?  I frankly do not know.  Is it possible that he did
so?  Of course it is.  The other circumstances in this torrid and
horrid affair point to that as a possibility.

Is it possible that Mia Farrow created the false allegations?  Yes, it
is.  Do I believe that she did so?  Again, I have no idea.

But this is what I believed might have happened....  Probably several
years ago Woody and Mia drifted apart.  They lived in separate, but
facing apartments.  In his isolation from his lover, Mia, Woody reached
out and touched someone - his adoptive step-daughter, who was probably
not a minor at the time.  That relationship was legal by definition of
law, but was still a violation of what most people consider normal.
Society believes, "thou shalt not procreate with thine own children,
whether they are biologically your's or not."  Mia probably discovered
this relationship months ago (apparently she has pictures).  In her
shock and horror, she grew more and more hysterical and protective of
her other children.  At the same time, Woody, pleading legal propriety,
albeit lack of discretion, asserted his rights for and love for his
other children and opted to secure those rights in a shared parenting
agreement, to Mia's utter dismay.  In Mia's self-righteousness, she
could not see giving equal parenting time, nor legal rights to this
person whom she now considered a threat to her children.  It was at
this stage that third-party intervention could possible have averted
the results that we see today.  However, since there are so few experts
on these things, there was no good, valid intervention.  The angst,
fear, and hysteria grew - the pain, anguish and hatred festered.
Apparently last week, things blew up - Mia went public with allegations
of abuse against the other children - abuse that might not have
happened.

I could be completely wrong about my initial limited beliefs in this
case.  A strong argument against those beliefs are that Woody admits to
an affair with a step-daughter.  That societal dictate that says such
an affair is not morally acceptable by most people, is and was known to
Woody at the time he committed those acts.  Some people believe, if you
will cross one border, why not all?

One common characteristic of sexual molesters is a personality profile
called "psychopathic deviancy."  Psychopathic deviants are people who
march to the beat of a different drummer.  They tend to have a
different value set from the common values of most members of society.
They think for themselves and sometimes come to different conclusions
about issues than most people.  In the case of sexual molesters, they
know what society believes about sexual impropriety, but they often
feel personally that what they are doing is not wrong.  Many times they
were sexually abused as children and develop a rationale that it was
not only not a bad thing, but that it might have been a good thing.
Unfortunately for Woody, he made a leap in this direction with his
affair with his adoptive step-daughter.  But, interestingly enough,
many independent thinkers score high in psychopathic deviancy.
Doctors, lawyers, engineers, chemists, computer scientists, atheists,
agnostics, researchers, philosophers - many high-achievers score high
on the psychopathic deviancy scale.  While almost all child sexual
molesters are psychopathic deviants, not all psychopathic deviants are
child molesters - most are just as sickened by child sexual abuse as
most of the members of society.

No matter what the truth is in this case - and we will probably never
know, the best possible resolution would be to get this family some
needed help in dealing with these problems, to shelter these children
from further damage, be that damage from public humiliation, coercive
prompting or from sexual molestation, and for everyone to be able to go
on with as normal lives as possible.  Whatever the problems are, they
should be fixed.

Unfortunately, given what has transpired recently, the prognosis for
such an outcome does not look good.

Finally, in my own case, a recent agreement to consider a plan which
would take away all my ex's support, got her under control.  She
realizes that if I push for sole custody, I will likely get it and she
will be hurt in the process.  She also recognizes that negotiating with
me, rather than against me, is her best hope for a reasonable
solution.  So, tonight we met and started working on a shared parenting
plan - one that gives me 34% of the year with my children.  We will
also go into joint counseling for one year.  We are working together in
the best interests of my children.  Within six months, I hope that we
can agree on a plan that would give me 50% of the time with the
children.  We are making definite progress.  The prognosis is pretty
good at this point.  I've got my fingers crossed.

I hope the Allen/Farrow fiasco can resolve itself in such a manner.

I also hope that the public will finally become aware of the serious
nature of such allegations made during custody disputes, that the
professional and legal world will start to implement methods for
properly dealing with them, and that, as a result of such a public
case, society can implement some real solutions to these problems -
both the problem of false allegations, and the problem of real sexual
abuse.

The issue is in the public eye, moreso than it has ever been before.
Let's see what the public will do with it.

Aaron L. Hoffmeyer 
TR@CBNEA.ATT.COM