# 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:** 3
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/41 "2009-04-17T02:05:32Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The night she discovered the nude photos, Allen walked into her apartment at the same time like nothing happened and sat at the dining table where the children were eating dinner, like he always did. The older children, who had been told by Mia what happened, all picked up their plates and went to their rooms. “Discovered” makes it sound like they weren’t being displayed, but I don’t know how it went down. However, telling the children “Your daddy’s fucking your sister and here’s the proof” smacks of a serious problem on Mia’s part. Adults just don’t do that at the outset of a Divorce Level Event. ---
**Author:** ![tumbleddown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@tumbleddown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tumbleddown)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/42 "2009-04-17T02:18:29Z")
> [@TJVM](#): > > I think so. He may not have been technically her stepfather, since they had an unconventional family, but he was definitely a father-figure to her during formative years, and was more or less like a husband to her mother. A husband-figure to her mother, but Soon-Yi has said that she never viewed Woody in a parental fashion. > [@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. Since when is academic achievement an indicator of emotional stability or a home life that is supportive beyond the academic areas? A number of prodigies (and I know a lot, I was amongst the “advanced beyond my age” myself, starting college a month after turning 16) come from homes that went beyond instability and into the realm of outright abusive, emotionally, physically or both. You cannot point to academic excellence as proof of an appropriate or supportive home life. ---
**Author:** ![Amber\_in\_Treasury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Amber\_in\_Treasury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amber_in_Treasury)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/43 "2009-04-17T02:52:27Z")
Woody Allen: excellent emetic. And now excuse me while I do my Tonstant Weader impwession. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/44 "2009-04-17T02:54:29Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > For those who, like me, are asking “What American Apparel thing?,” there’s a summary (with commentary) [here](http://blog.nj.com/njv_fran_wood/2009/04/woody_allen_v_american_apparel.html). Just having skimmed that article, I’d say that of the two – the author and Allen, she’s easily the worse human being. A “brood of adopted children”? Having one child “of their own”? Not knowing the difference between Yiddish and Hebrew, but feeling entitled to opine – in high dudgeon – about it nonetheless? Useless. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![Isamu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/7c8e57/32.png) [@Isamu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isamu)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/45 "2009-04-17T05:14:03Z")
So creepy only entomologists should be allowed to examine it. ---
**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 17, 2009, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/46 "2009-04-17T05:34:11Z")
I don’t even think Woody Allen is that great of a creative talent. There are other actor/directors from the same era who are waaaaay more impressive. John Cassavetes, for one. Allen’s shtick is so played out. He singlehandedly created a whole genre of stupid “neurotic Jewish guy meets hot young woman” movies, spawning all sorts of horrible films that rip off of his shtick, not to mention playing right into the hands of all the stereotypes about Jews being creepy weasels. Someone needs to kick this guy’s old ass off of the Jew-Movie-Maker pedestal and replace him with, I don’t know, a Jew who has a little more oomph to him. Don’t say Seth Rogen; he’s just turned the whiny little Jew into the big, obnoxious Jew. We need a new Jew. ---
**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 17, 2009, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/47 "2009-04-17T05:46:03Z")
> [@Argent\_Towers](#): > > I don’t even think Woody Allen is that great of a creative talent. There are other actor/directors from the same era who are waaaaay more impressive. John Cassavetes, for one. Allen’s shtick is so played out. He singlehandedly created a whole genre of stupid “neurotic Jewish guy meets hot young woman” movies, spawning all sorts of horrible films that rip off of his shtick, not to mention playing right into the hands of all the stereotypes about Jews being creepy weasels. Someone needs to kick this guy’s old ass off of the Jew-Movie-Maker pedestal and replace him with, I don’t know, a Jew who has a little more oomph to him. Don’t say Seth Rogen; he’s just turned the whiny little Jew into the big, obnoxious Jew. We need a new Jew. We need a new Jew. Words to live by. I find neurotic Jewish guys hot. Not so much Woody, though. (Sorry, Woody.) ---
**Author:** ![Amber\_in\_Treasury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc79bd/32.png) [@Amber\_in\_Treasury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amber_in_Treasury)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/48 "2009-04-17T06:53:48Z")
What **Argent Towers** said. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 7:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/49 "2009-04-17T07:36:54Z")
Woody is a kook. Mia is a kook (she has the crazy eyes). Soon-yi is probably a kook. The situation is way outside of my world and seems creepy to me. But there were no laws broken. Everyone was consenting and now they have been together for over a decade. They are all probably still batshit crazy but it is nothing for me to get worked up over. It won’t keep me from watching his movies. He is not my favorite and I don’t line up to see his work but I usually enjoy it when I do see it. ---
**Author:** ![Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Springtime\_for\_Spacers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Springtime_for_Spacers)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/50 "2009-04-17T08:07:00Z")
> [@NoCoolUserName](#): > > 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. > > . Hepatitis C \*is \*curable both in children and adults. [This article](http://www.hepctrust.org.uk/Resources/HepC/Migrated%20Resources/Documents/Other/265_Hepatitis%20C%20in%20children%20-HCV%20Advocate%20update%202006.pdf) discusses the current situation with regard to Hep C in children. > [@](#): > > In summary, HCV infection > occurs in children > and is frequently unrecognized. > Compared > to adults, the disease is > frequently less severe or > more prolonged. Children > might have a better > response rate to therapy, > but this is based upon > very small and uncontrolled > studies. ---
**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 17, 2009, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/51 "2009-04-17T12:12:46Z")
> [@EJsGirl](#): > > “Discovered” makes it sound like they weren’t being displayed, but I don’t know how it went down. > > However, telling the children “Your daddy’s fucking your sister and here’s the proof” smacks of a serious problem on Mia’s part. Adults just don’t do that at the outset of a Divorce Level Event. Mia Farrow did not show the photos to her children. She put them in her bank safe deposit box and later gave them to her attorney to keep in his safe. Woody was desperate to get her to burn them so he could deny they ever existed. But it would have been impossible to hide the whole Soon-Yi/Woody relationship from the children. If anyone can show me where any of Mia’s children other than Soon-Yi had problems, I’d revise my assessment of her. But as far as I know, all her children except Soon-Yi turned out fine. And yes, Ronan got unmistakenly blessed in the gene department. ---
**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, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/52 "2009-04-17T12:14:43Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > Everyone was consenting and now they have been together for over a decade. Nitpick: Mia didn’t consent. ---
**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 17, 2009, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/53 "2009-04-17T12:26:49Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > Just having skimmed that article, I’d say that of the two – the author and Allen, she’s easily the worse human being. A “brood of adopted children”? Having one child “of their own”? Not knowing the difference between Yiddish and Hebrew, but feeling entitled to opine – in high dudgeon – about it nonetheless? Useless. > > –Cliffy > [@article](#): > > Allen and Farrow, you’ll recall, were lovers for 12 years. He spent almost every waking moment, and more than a few sleeping moments, at her Manhattan apartment with her large brood of adopted children. They adopted one child together, a daughter Dylan. They had their own biological child, Satchel. A. Allen never stayed overnight at Mia’s apartment. He didn’t like the shower. B. Mia’s “large brood” included her three biological sons. C. Mia adopted Moses & Dylan first. Woody later adopted them both. D. Satchel now uses the name Ronan Seamus Farrow. Lady, can you at least get your facts straight? ---
**Author:** ![VarlosZ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/d78d45/32.png) [@VarlosZ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VarlosZ)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/54 "2009-04-17T12:57:50Z")
It is conventionally creepy, which is an entirely useless and boring fact. That they’re still together, and that they existed in a universe which is completely alien to anything ever experienced by anyone in this thread, would suggest that there’s more than enough reason to grant the benefit of the doubt and move on. Besides, an artist creates his own moral universe, right? ---
**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 17, 2009, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/55 "2009-04-17T13:12:36Z")
> [@tumbleddown](#): > > You kind of have to wonder how stable it was when the adoptive father of the oldest of her kids (including Soon-Yi) was really never around, her teenaged daughter was sleeping with her partner right under her nose and she had no clue, and considering how she played her children with Allen against him in the home and then in court. It seems that there was a lot of emotional weirdness going on in that household. Allen alledged that Mia played his children against him, but that was totally discredit by the children and later in court. Even after she knew of the affair, Mia allowed Allen to see the children with supervised visitation. When your children find out you are fucking their sister, I don’t think their mother needs to turn them against you. You’ve done that fine all by yourself. The judge was willing to give Allen unsupervised visitation with his biological son Seamus, but Allen said he only wanted unsupervised visitation with all of them or none of them. Very very weird. ---
**Author:** ![Moirai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/96bed5/32.png) [@Moirai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moirai)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/56 "2009-04-17T13:59:22Z")
I’m still creeped out by the fact that Mia told the “older” children what had happened _the day she found the pics_. Who the hell does that?!? I would be having discussions with my mate, my lawyer and a few other people before I even thought about blabbing that shit to my kids. Mia sounds like a bit of an attention whore. ---
**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 17, 2009, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/57 "2009-04-17T14:08:12Z")
Mia was no doubt in a state of shock. She called Allen and said “I’ve found the photos. Stay away from us.” She went home and called Andre Previn, Soon-Yi’s adoptive father. She confronted Soon-Yi, who admitted “I’ve been a bad girl.” Her “older” children were adults and delaying telling them would serve no purpose. She had a family meeting that night to discuss it. She didn’t tell the younger children until _after_ consulting with her attorney and a psychologist. She also kept the whole affair out of the press until _Allen_ called press release to announce his relationship and his custody papers. Who is the attention whore there? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/58 "2009-04-17T14:11:29Z")
Allen’s relationship with Soon Yi is creepy as hell. But I have to disagree with the author over the billboard situation. One has nothing to do with the other. The fact that he slept with his girlfriend’s teenage daughter has nothing to do with his desire not to appear to be making a commercial endorsement for a clothing company. American Apparel cannot say “Allen’s a moral scumbag so we can use his image for free.” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/59 "2009-04-17T14:24:26Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Allen’s relationship with Soon Yi is creepy as hell. But I have to disagree with the author over the billboard situation. One has nothing to do with the other. The fact that he slept with his girlfriend’s teenage daughter has nothing to do with his desire not to appear to be making a commercial endorsement for a clothing company. American Apparel cannot say “Allen’s a moral scumbag so we can use his image for free.” Allen is contending that the association with American Apparel harms his image, so they are responding by claiming his image is in the gutter, so there is no harm. At the time the Soon-Yi story came out, that was probably true. Fifteen years later, I’m not sure. Either way American Apparel tends to make sleazy ads. ---
**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 17, 2009, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302/60 "2009-04-17T14:39:18Z")
RE telling the older children: I’m certain I would immediately want to find out whether any of my other kids had been approached sexually by this man. Soon-yi was only 17, and Mia had no way to know how long this had been going on. I might wait and consult a child psychiatrist about the best way to ask the younger kids, but I’d talk to any teens or adults immediately, and try to find out if anyone else had been hurt, or had known about this. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/woody-allen-soon-yi-creepy/493302.md?page=4)