Opinion: Why you should believe Dylan Farrow

To the editor: I have long wondered why so many continue to support filmmaker Woody Allen when the evidence is overwhelming that he is a sexual predator. (“Why has the #MeToo revolution spared Woody Allen?” Opinion, Dec. 7)

As a therapist who has worked with many sexual abuse victims, I can recognize when the stories are valid, and Dylan Farrow’s story rings very true. At the very least, we all know of his inappropriate relationship turned marriage to his adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn, which started when she was a teenager. His grooming and ultimate control of a girl 35 years younger is alarming and creepy at best.

Is it that Harvey Weinstein is an unsightly predatory-looking bully while Allen appears to many as a comical little “harmless” munchkin?

For more than 20 years, I have refused to watch any of his movies because I greatly dislike the feeling of nausea. I applaud the actors who refuse to work with him and wish the rest of Hollywood would come out of their caves of denial.

My support and condolences to Dylan Farrow, Mia Farrow and Soon-Yi Previn.

Carolyn Maxwell, San Clemente

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To the editor: I am very involved in the movement for family court reform here in Connecticut.

What I find quite striking is that two members of the panel that evaluated the sexual abuse allegations against Allen refused to testify in court. As I recall, the lead psychiatrist for the panel, Dr. John Leventhal, only agreed to be deposed in the case, meaning he refused to testify at trial, but he agreed to have the attorneys question him outside the courtroom.

This means that no one on the panel was subjected to examination or cross examination. This is a major lapse in the case, and I would suspect it is the reason why Judge Elliott Wilk ruled that the panel’s conclusions weren’t credible.

Elizabeth Richter, Canton, Conn.

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