Dylan Farrow calls publishing of Woody Allen's upcoming memoir an "utter betrayal"
Dylan Farrow issued a scathing statement on Twitter in response to the news that her adoptive father Woody Allen will be releasing a memoir in April. Farrow has alleged Allen sexually assaulted her when she was a child — allegations the actor and director has always denied.
Farrow took aim at Grand Central Publishing, a division of the Hachette Book Group, for publishing the book titled "Apropos of Nothing," a decision the company announced Monday in a press release.
Farrow wrote: "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 assault by powerful men." Her brother, Ronan Farrow, shared a Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on Harvey Weinstein.
She said she had not been contacted by fact-checkers to verify any details of the memoir, while noting that her own story has been subjected to "endless scrutiny."
"This provides yet another example of the profound privilege that power, money and notoriety affords," she wrote. "Hachette's complicity in this should be called out for what it is and they should have to answer for it."
My statement on the disappointing and, frankly shocking, news from @HachetteUS today. pic.twitter.com/h0zuAi0T7l
— Dylan Farrow (@RealDylanFarrow) March 3, 2020
Ronan also posted a statement on Twitter on Tuesday to express his frustration.
The journalist recently released his book, "Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies, and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators," which details allegations of sexual assault in the media industry and his former bosses' alleged attempts to stifle his reporting.
The book was published by Little, Brown and Company — also a division of the Hachette Book Group.
"I was disappointed to learn through press reports that Hachette, my publisher, acquired Woody Allen's memoir after other major publishers refused to do so and concealed the decision from me and its own employees while we were working on Catch and Kill — a book about how powerful men, including Woody Allen, avoid accountability for sexual abuse," Ronan wrote.
He called on the publisher to "conduct a thorough fact check" of Allen's account, and said he told them "a publisher that would conduct itself in this way is one I can't work with in good conscience."
Hey, just wanted to share my thoughts on some recent news: pic.twitter.com/ovPczgx8pB
— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) March 4, 2020
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, Allen's memoir was rejected by a number of publishing houses in 2018 and 2019 after Farrow's allegations once again made headlines, The New York Times reported.
In January 2018, Farrow told her story to "CBS This Morning" for the first time on television. At the age of 7, Farrow said she told her mother, actress Mia Farrow, that Allen had molested her. He denied it and was never charged with a crime, but the allegations figured prominently in a legal battle when the couple split. Dylan Farrow has stood by her account for more than two decades. She first went public in 2014 with an open letter in The New York Times.
Grand Central Publishing did not state in its press release whether the book deals with Farrow's sexual assault allegation.
"The book is a comprehensive account of his life, both personal and professional, and describes his work in films, theater, television, nightclubs, and print," the publisher said in the statement Monday. "Allen also writes of his relationships with family, friends, and the loves of his life."
The autobiography will be published in France, Germany, Italy and Spain this spring, and will later be published in other countries around the world.
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- Ronan Farrow
Danielle Garrand is a social media producer and trending reporter for CBS News.
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