# Woody Allen/Soon Yi--Creepy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 16, 2009, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302 "2009-04-16T17:03:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ekweizn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7c8e57/32.png) [@ekweizn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ekweizn)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/21 "2009-04-16T18:04:34Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > …her two oldest daughters are married to brothers and have children. of their own. This deserves slightly more explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/22 "2009-04-16T18:06:39Z")
What? Her two oldest daughters married a pair of brothers and have their own children, who are double first cousins. What? ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/23 "2009-04-16T18:11:25Z")
Out of curiosity, has Soon-Yi herself ever given any signs of being unhappy with the arrangement? I mean, they have been married for 12 years now. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/24 "2009-04-16T18:16:28Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Out of curiosity, has Soon-Yi herself ever given any signs of being unhappy with the arrangement? I mean, they have been married for 12 years now. That’s what always kind of confused me. I mean, I know about people not knowing any better b/c of years of sexual abuse, but did that happen here? Woody sounds like a right bastard for how he handled it with Mia, and it does feel skeevey, but if Soon Yi were really unhappy wouldn’t she have left at some point? ---
**Author:** ![Argent\_Towers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e8c25b/32.png) [@Argent\_Towers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Argent_Towers)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/25 "2009-04-16T18:18:27Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Maybe that’s why their son [Roman O’Farrow](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronan_Seamus_Farrow) turned out so poorly :rolleyes, what with graduating college at 15 and going to Yale Law School at 16. ?!?! That’s the son of Woody Allen? I mean, his mother is obviously a very beautiful woman, but even with that, I never would have imagined that a son of Woody Allen would be so good-looking. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/26 "2009-04-16T18:48:33Z")
The whole thing was disgusting IMO, and it breaks my heart to think of her still attached to that narcissist. I remember an interview with Soon-yi at the time of their engagement. She talked about the requirements he had set up for their marriage, that they had to live in separate homes, that he would come and go as he pleased, that she was to stay away from the media or lose the allowance he would grant her. . . and of course a pre-nup. She said “When he asked me to marry him I was soooo happy! When he told me the conditions of our marriage I was very sad.” Here’s another one [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,976382,00.html](http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,976382,00.html) it sounds well-scripted to me though. Quite interesting: [http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us\_and\_americas/article585493.ece](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article585493.ece) ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/27 "2009-04-16T18:50:49Z")
The very best case for Woody here is that he was dating the 17 year old daughter of his girlfriend without the girlfriend knowing. A common pron trope, but still icky. ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/28 "2009-04-16T20:20:26Z")
> [@TJVM](#): > > In one of the articles linked above, Allen is quoted as saying, “the heart wants what the heart wants.” I think he referred to the wrong organ. I remember reading that quote about what the heart wants and saying to myself “Yeah, Woody, that’s why God gave you a _brain_ to go along with it!” Totally creepy and inappropriate, and if Mia had taken Frank Sinatra up on his alleged offer to have Woody’s legs broken over it, I would not have lost any sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/29 "2009-04-16T20:24:11Z")
> [@Linty\_Fresh](#): > > I remember reading that quote about what the heart wants and saying to myself “Yeah, Woody, that’s why God gave you a _brain_ to go along with it!” > > Totally creepy and inappropriate, and if Mia had taken Frank Sinatra up on his alleged offer to have Woody’s legs broken over it, I would not have lost any sleep. But I feel like what he did was skeevey in a cheating on you someone close to you way. Not a child molesting way, should get killed over it way. Like if Woody Allen had molested a young child, that would make me think, “Ew, he should be in jail” or “I wouldn’t feel bad if his legs had been broken.” ---
**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/30 "2009-04-16T21:28:50Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > Of course it crossed a line. But as columnist Richard Cohen noted at the time, it’s a little disingenuous to elevate an ordinary pervert to an Old Testament monstrosity. Completely agreed. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/31 "2009-04-16T21:47:45Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > So it’s better for these kids not to have stable homes than to have a stable home with someone who has adopted more than one other child? 😕 She has a total of 15 children, i.e. one more than the “Octomom.” That’s a “stable home” if you use the barnyard definition of “stable.” Otherwise, not so much. I’m from a large family. 15 kids is a fucking circus. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/32 "2009-04-16T22:53:48Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > She has a total of 15 children, i.e. one more than the “Octomom.” That’s a “stable home” if you use the barnyard definition of “stable.” Otherwise, not so much. > > I’m from a large family. 15 kids is a fucking circus. Eh, there’s quite a difference between the home lives of an unwed welfare mom & a world famous movie star. Number one obviously being money. If Mia can afford to raise 15 kids that otherwise would be in the foster system, then I don’t see a problem. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/33 "2009-04-16T23:02:52Z")
Answer to the OP: totally creepy. Out of all the women that must throw themselves at Woody 'cause he’s rich & famous & artistic, he can’t find anyone except his girlfriend’s daughter to go crazy over? Puh-LEEze. That she would accept a relationship with so many conditions in it suggests that her self-esteem is lacking at best. If he loved her he’d get her a good counselor and then she’d dump him, but apparently that hasn’t happened. Now, to comment on some of the adoption and large-family comments. I don’t want a flame war here, but VeryCoolSpouse and I have 8 kids, 4 of them adopted. If the house were bigger, we’d have more. Our kids are doing fine, thank you, and everyone should please lay off Mia, and Angelina, and the others, or I’ll be forced to make some very rude remarks. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 16, 2009, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/34 "2009-04-16T23:58:04Z")
> [@NoCoolUserName](#): > > Answer to the OP: totally creepy. Out of all the women that must throw themselves at Woody 'cause he’s rich & famous & artistic, he can’t find anyone except his girlfriend’s daughter to go crazy over? Puh-LEEze. That she would accept a relationship with so many conditions in it suggests that her self-esteem is lacking at best. If he loved her he’d get her a good counselor and then she’d dump him, but apparently that hasn’t happened. > > Now, to comment on some of the adoption and large-family comments. I don’t want a flame war here, but VeryCoolSpouse and I have 8 kids, 4 of them adopted. If the house were bigger, we’d have more. Our kids are doing fine, thank you, and everyone should please lay off Mia, and Angelina, and the others, or I’ll be forced to make some very rude remarks. Thank you. With all due respect to you and your VeryCoolSpouse, even you must think there’s an upper limit to how many children can actually benefit from that type of living situation. I’m impressed that you can manage such a large household of children, but when the Woody/Soon Yi story broke in '92, one of Soon Yi Previn’s rare public statements was an open letter to Mia Farrow questioning the virtue of having so many adopted children because some of them really did get lost in the crush. It’s not just my churlish opinion. And I don’t endorse Woody’s conduct either. I find them both a bit creepy. Rent **Husbands and Wives** , the film he was making as the affair began, sometime and listen to the words he actually put into his wife’s mouth justifying adultery. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/35 "2009-04-17T00:00:39Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > That’s what always kind of confused me. I mean, I know about people not knowing any better b/c of years of sexual abuse, but did that happen here? Woody sounds like a right bastard for how he handled it with Mia, and it does feel skeevey, but if Soon Yi were really unhappy wouldn’t she have left at some point? I have no idea if she’s happy or not, but there are certainly plenty of women who stay in unhappy or even abusive marriages. The fact that they’re still together isn’t in and of itself proof that they have a healthy relationship. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/36 "2009-04-17T00:08:06Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Eh, there’s quite a difference between the home lives of an unwed welfare mom & a world famous movie star. Number one obviously being money. If Mia can afford to raise 15 kids that otherwise would be in the foster system, then I don’t see a problem. That’s a false choice. Given the number of couples that want to adopt vs. those who actually get to, I doubt that many of those kids would’ve languished in “the system.” ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/37 "2009-04-17T00:14:56Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > That’s a false choice. Given the number of couples that want to adopt vs. those who actually get to, I doubt that many of those kids would’ve languished in “the system.” A lot of couples want to adopt healthy infants, especially if they’re white. Kids who don’t fit that description are much less likely to be adopted. There are children who are never adopted and remain in the foster care system until they age out of it (typically at 18). There was a documentary on this subject called [Aging Out](http://www.pbs.org/wnet/agingout/index-hi.html). That’s just American kids. Several of Farrow’s children (including Soon Yi) were adopted from SE Asia, and might otherwise have grown up in orphanages. ---
**Author:** ![NoCoolUserName](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5fc32e/32.png) [@NoCoolUserName](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoCoolUserName)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/38 "2009-04-17T00:21:19Z")
> [@Krokodil](#): > > That’s a false choice. Given the number of couples that want to adopt vs. those who actually get to, I doubt that many of those kids would’ve languished in “the system.” Sorry to disagree, but there are many kids who never get adopted. Healthy white babies go in a flash–usually to relatives–but special needs kids, especially those with severe disabilities, are often never taken. It depends on what the special need is as well. Intersex kids, in the US anyway, are the very bottom of the list. Kids with Hep C, currently not curable, are more likely to be adopted than kids with sexual irregularities. Back to Mia for a moment. I certainly believe she’s a bit whacked, one might argue that having a relationship with Woody puts you in that category in and of itself, but a) the doesn’t mean she’s a bad mom and b) with that kind of money she can hire the best nannies, real child-raising experts, and give the kids a fine upbringing even if she doesn’t do the 24-hour mom thing herself. \ I’m sounding like a grump here, and I don’t want to. I’m quite a fun person, really. 🙂 As to what’s best for the kids, I don’t have a list of Mia’s kids or where they came from or what their special needs are, but I believe most are international adoptions. Trust one who knows, any (non-abusive) family in the US will give a better environment to grow and flourish than growing up in an orphanage (or if you’re in China, a “Child Welfare Institute”). It’s not that they don’t try–most of them do–but the countries are so freakin’ poor that there’s very little they can do to help those kids, and less for the special needs kids. I’ll get off my hobby horse now. As you were. Woody is creepy. A brilliant film maker, but creepy. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/39 "2009-04-17T01:19:03Z")
I guess most people would find it creepy. I don’t care. You find the right person in the wrong way some time. I have never heard that Woody and Soon Yo were having trouble. It is their business. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/40 "2009-04-17T01:23:37Z")
Of course it’s creepy. Dating a kid that you were a father figure of some sort to, who you started seeing when she was still in high school, where you left naked pictures of her in her mother’s home, and ended up marrying your son’s similar-age sister? How can that not be creepy? ‘Creepy’ doesn’t mean old testament villain. It just means creepy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302.md?page=3)