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HOLLYWOOD, May 12 (UPI) -- Ronan Farrow penned an essay for The Hollywood Reporter citing the "danger" that is leaving accusations against his father, Woody Allen, alone. In the essay, journalist Farrow supported his sister Dylan's claims their father sexually abused her as a seven-year-old child.
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"I believe my sister," he wrote. "This was always true as a brother who trusted her, and, even at 5 years old, was troubled by our father's strange behavior around her: climbing into her bed in the middle of the night, forcing her to suck his thumb -- behavior that had prompted him to enter into therapy focused on his inappropriate conduct with children prior to the allegations."
Farrow went on to discuss the issue of quiet acceptance of the alleged dark habits of men like his father or Bill Cosby, accusations against whom he admitted he glossed over for the sake of connections in the past.
He also discussed the deeply engrained taboo that is accusing powerful men like the Café Society director of sexual assault or abuse, saying his sister was turned away by multiple news outlets when she decided to speak out.
"When The New York Times ultimately ran my sister's story in 2014, it gave her 936 words online, embedded in an article with careful caveats. Nicholas Kristof, the Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter and advocate for victims of sexual abuse, put it on his blog," he said.
"Soon afterward, the Times gave her alleged attacker twice the space -- and prime position in the print edition, with no caveats or surrounding context. It was a stark reminder of how differently our press treats vulnerable accusers and powerful men who stand accused."
Woody Allen on Wednesday walked the red carpet at Cannes Film Festival to introduce his latest film, Café Society, starring Kristen Stewart, Blake Lively, Steve Carell and Jesse Eisenberg.
In his essay, Farrow warned that it was "dangerous" to continue to gloss over the accusations made against Allen because of his popularity and craftsmanship as a filmmaker.
"That kind of silence isn't just wrong. It's dangerous. It sends a message to victims that it's not worth the anguish of coming forward. It sends a message about who we are as a society, what we'll overlook, who we'll ignore, who matters and who doesn't."
Stewart said she questioned working with Allen in the May issue of Variety, but said "the experience of making the movie was so outside of that, it was fruitful ... to go on with it."
Having been romantically involved with the writer Farrow's mother -- actress Mia Farrow -- Allen was not only a father figure to both he and his sister but to his current wife Soon-Yi Previn, his ex's adopted daughter whom he helped raise.
In an interview with NPR last year, Allen claimed his previous parent-child relationship with Previn helped support their romantic relationship and 20-year marriage. "I was paternal. She responded to someone paternal," he told the outlet at the time.
"I liked her youth and energy. She deferred to me, and I was happy to give her an enormous amount of decision-making just as a gift and let her take charge of so many things. She flourished. It was just a good-luck thing."
