Oscar winner Mira Sorvino says she's sorry for working with Woody Allen
'Even if you love someone, if you learn they may have committed these despicable acts, they must be exposed and condemned'
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Your support makes all the difference.Mira Sorvino has written an open letter to express her regret over working with Woody Allen, and to voice her support for Dylan Farrow, the director's estranged adopted daughter who accused him of sexual abuse.
Sorvino won an Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Linda Ash in Allen's 1995 film Mighty Aphrodite, making her especially tied to the complex legacy of Allen's work.
"I confess that at the time I worked for Woody Allen I was a naive young actress," Sorvino wrote in The Huffington Post. "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."
In 1992, Allen's former partner Mia Farrow contacted authorities after her daughter, Dylan, allegedly described sexual abuse by the director. Though Allen has repeatedly denied the allegations and was not criminally charged, Farrow was granted with full custody after a judge found Dylan's testimony to be credible.
Sorvino then continued - through clarifying this as "not a justification" - that Linda Ash was a dream role for her and that "I never personally experienced what has now been described as inappropriate behaviour toward young girls."
"But this does not excuse my turning blind eye to your story simply because I wanted desperately for it not to be so," she added. "It is difficult to sever ties and denounce your heroes, your benefactors, whom you fondly admired and felt a debt of gratitude toward for your entire career’s existence."
"To decide, although they may be fantastically talented and helped you enormously, that you believe they have done things for which there can be no excuse. But that is where we stand today."
Sorvino was one of the women who came forward as part of the bombshell exposé penned by Ronan Farrow, Dylan's brother, and she explained that he helped her gain a new perspective on the situation.
She added, "He pointed me toward publicly available details of the case I had ruefully never known of, which made me begin to feel the evidence strongly supported your story. That you have been telling the truth all along."
"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," she then concluded.
The past week has also seen Lady Bird director Greta Gerwig express regret over working with Allen, stating: "If I had known then what I know now, I would not have acted in the film. I have not worked for him again, and I will not work for him again."
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