Mira Sorvino, who was one of the first women to accuse Harvey Weinstein of sexual harassment, says she regrets working with Woody Allen. Sorvino won a Golden Globe for her 1995 role as the biological mother of the genius baby adopted by Lenny (Allen) and Amanda (Helena Bonham Carter) in Mighty Aphrodite.
More than two decades later, the actress issued a formal apology to Dylan Farrow, Allen’s adopted daughter who claims that the award-winning director sexually abused her. “I confess that at the time I worked for Woody Allen I was a naive young actress,” Sorvino wrote in an essay for Huffington Post directed to Farrow.
“I swallowed the media’s portrayal of your abuse allegations against your father as an outgrowth of a twisted custody battle between Mia Farrow and him, and did not look further into the situation, for which I am terribly sorry. For this I also owe an apology to Mia.”
Farrow responded to Sorvino’s letter.
“I am overwhelmed and my gratitude to you cannot be expressed sufficiently in words. This letter is beautiful and I will carry your words with me,” she tweeted. “Your courage has been boundless and your activism an example for us all. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.”
In December, Sorvino levelled her accusations against Weinstein to Ronan Farrow, Dylan’s brother and a reporter who wrote the New Yorker article about the now-disgraced producer.
The actress, who called Mighty Aphrodite a “dream role”, said it was difficult to cut ties with her hero, but that she regretted waiting so long to acknowledge Farrow’s allegations against Allen.
“We are in a day and age when everything must be re-examined. This kind of abuse cannot be allowed to continue. If this means tearing down all the old gods, so be it,” she wrote.
“The cognitive dissonance, the denial and cowardice that spare us painful truths and prevent us from acting in defence of innocent victims while allowing ‘beloved’ individuals to continue their heinous behaviour must be jettisoned from the bottom of our souls. Even if you love someone, if you learn they may have committed these despicable acts, they must be exposed and condemned, and this exposure must have consequences. I will never work with him again.” – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
