In a heartfelt open letter published in The Huffington Post, Mira Sorvino apologized to Dylan Farrow for working with Woody Allen on Mighty Aphrodite despite having been aware of Farrow’s allegations of sexual abuse against her adopted father.
“I am writing to express my belief in and support of you,” Sorvino writes, after making it clear that she’s offering multiple apologies to Farrow, who has said that Allen molested her when she was 7 years old, claims she expanded upon in her own open letter in 2014. The actress, who won a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Allen’s 1995 film, doesn’t try to excuse her actions. She explains how she justified the decision to herself at the time: “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.”
Sorvino writes of her own sexual misconduct allegations against Harvey Weinstein, which she opened up to Ronan Farrow about for his New Yorker piece. When the actress inquired about the claims against Allen, the journalist pointed her to the widely available reports. After reading over them, Sorvino now says she unequivocably believes Dylan Farrow, and adds another “I’m sorry” to her litany of mea culpas.
In addition to publicly offering her support to Farrow, Sorvino echoes the call for action that’s resounded throughout Hollywood since the flood of sexual assault and harassment allegations against some of the industry’s most powerful men began. Sorvino concludes by vowing never to work with Allen again.
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. The cognitive dissonance, the denial and cowardice that spare us painful truths and prevent us from acting in defense of innocent victims while allowing “beloved” individuals to continue their heinous behavior 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.
You can read the full letter here.