Woody Allen's son defends father over sexual assault allegations and accuses Mia Farrow of abuse

Moses Farrow, the adopted son of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow, has sought to come to his father’s defence against allegations of sexual abuse, saying in a blog post the veteran Hollywood director did not rape his sister. He also accused their mother of being manipulative and physically abusive.

In a post entitled A Son Speaks Out, the 40-year-old spent almost 5,000 words revisiting issues he has previously spoken about, and insisted Allen had been unfairly treated.

“I’m a very private person and not at all interested in public attention,” wrote Mr Farrow.

“But, given the incredibly inaccurate and misleading attacks on my father, Woody Allen, I feel that I can no longer stay silent as he continues to be condemned for a crime he did not commit.”

Moses Farrow, who works as a therapist, was adopted from South Korea as a youngster by Mia Farrow and then also adopted by Allen in 1991. He was 14 in 1993 when allegations were first made during a bitter custody battle, that the director of films such as Annie Hall, had assaulted Moses’ seven-year-old sister, Dylan. The claim was investigated, but Allen was not charged. He has always denied the claims.

In 2014, Dylan Farrow published an op-ed in the New York Times in which she claimed the movie director had raped her in the attic of the family home.

“He told me to lay on my stomach and play with my brother’s electric train set,” she wrote “Then he sexually assaulted me.”

In a statement to People in response to Moses Farrow’s claim, his sister said his blog post was “an attempt to deflect from a credible allegation made by an adult woman, by trying to impugn my mother who has only ever been supportive of me and my siblings”.

She added: “It’s easily disproven, contradicts years of his own statements, is beyond hurtful to me personally, and is part of a larger effort to discredit and distract from my assault. My brother is a troubled person. I’m so sorry he’s doing this.”

This is not the first time the director son’s has claimed that his mother was abusive. The 73-year-old did not immediately respond to her son’s latest claims.

However, in 2017, when Moses Farrow made similar claims that mother had been abusive to an author who included the remarks in a biography of Allen, the veteran actress stridently denied them. She said at the time: “It’s heartbreaking and bewildering that he would make this up, perhaps to please Woody.”