Key to Woody Allen Controversy is Wife Soon-Yi's Past

The key to unlocking the controversy surrounding Woody Allen's denial of having molested his seven year old adopted daughter, lies with the one person, who has remained oddly silent from the very beginning. And that is Soon-Yi Previn, the adopted daughter of Mia Farrow, whom Woody Allen

Woody Allen, Mia Farrow & Soon-Yi Previn as Teen

married at the age of 19 or 21.  No one is quite sure of her birth date.  But one thing that is public knowledge is the fact that Mia Farrow rescued Soon-Yi from the streets of Seoul, South Korea and adopted her at the age of eight.  But maybe a child of that age is anything but a blank slate. Maybe the fact that her mother was a prostitute is actually pivotal to what happened subsequently.   How likely was it that a child growing up in those circumstances had not herself been molested or even pimped around by a mother, who was selling her own body for cash?    

Some commentators have talked about Soon-Yi as being both learning disabled and emotionally handicapped.  Others bristle at such a characterization about a young woman, who did manage to make it through college.  But Soon-Yi cannot have it both ways.  Either she is too emotionally incapacitated to assume any responsibility for marrying her mother's boyfriend and setting of the sparks that scorched her little sister, Dylan's soul. Or, she knew exactly what she was doing by allowing the famous and wealthy Woody Allen to seduce her.     

One of the most telling characteristics of children who have been molested is that they often exhibit promiscuous, sexually precocious behavior.  Soon-Yi appears to have been no more than fifteen years old when Woody Allen took nude photos of her in pornographic poses.  In fact, it was Mia Farrow's discovery of these pictures that set off the alarm precipitating the family crisis. 

Soon-Yi has never been interviewed in person. She appeared in a highly scripted documentary "Wild Man Blues" about Woody Allen's musicianship, and has from time to time submitted written statements to interviewers defending herself and her husband.  But why have none of the reporters pursuing this story ever even talked to her?

We have two choices.  Either we should treat Soon-Yi Previn as a mature adult with agency, who can refute  public accusations against her husband in an unscripted setting. Or, we just ought to assume that she is an adult-child, whose sexually-damaged childhood, makes it unlikely that she would be able to protect her and Woody Allen's adopted daughters from molestation if their dad does turn out to be a pedophile.

RELATED POST:  Did Woody Allen Marry Mentally-Handicapped Daughter?