Ronan Farrow doesn't blame Mira Sorvino for working with Woody Allen: 'It was a different time'
Ronan Farrow is continuing to promote Catch and Kill, this week appearing on the pop culture podcast Keep It!. In his best-selling book, Farrow gets candid about how he was an adversary at one point to his sister Dylan and her public handling of her sexual assault allegation against Woody Allen. Farrow expounded on his support "evolution" and how it impacted the willingness of female celebrities to work with him for his Pulitzer Prize-winning exposé on Harvey Weinstein.
"I think for anyone who has a loved one who has confronted [sexual assault] issues, you know that on top of everything else and all the ways in which it is painful for the survivor of sexual violence, it's also something that creates a blast radius for those around them, and is inconvenient on top of everything else," Farrow admitted. "It's something people want to turn away from."
He continued, "I was not always super principled about saying, 'You should go for it.' As you say, I was very much the guy who I think is in so many survivors’ lives, saying, 'Is this really worth it?' Part of the evolution I go through over the course of the book is coming to understand that it really is worth it and that she was doing something courageous."
Dylan has been unwavering in her allegations against Allen. She claims her father molested her at age 7, something the director has denied. The accusations resurfaced in the #MeToo era with a majority of actors and actresses vowing never again to work with Allen. Farrow was asked "how obligated" he felt to share his own experience when working with female celebrities who were speaking out about Weinstein.
"It happened naturally that we did have conversations about that," he replied. "I didn't feel like it was my place to bring that up so much, but sources would often go there. I talk in the book about how Rose McGowan brought that up and had seen that I'd kind of evolved on that issue of becoming more willing to confront my sister's allegation, and I think felt she could trust me as a result of that."
Farrow also worked with Mira Sorvino for his story, as she was one of the many women to come forward and accuse Weinstein of sexual misconduct. She's also known for her connection to Allen, as she won an Oscar for her supporting performance in his film, Mighty Aphrodite.
"Mira Sorvino, there was this moment that I describe where we were early in our interviews and she said, 'You know, I've been having stress dreams about you showing up with a camera on my doorstep and asking me about working with Woody Allen,'" Farrow recalled. "I was like, 'God, it would have never even occurred to me, of course I don't judge you for that, it was a different time and you didn't have access to all the information. In any case, I'm working as a reporter here it's completely separate regardless of your views on that.'"
Farrow had nothing but praise for Sorvino, who penned an open letter of apology to Dylan in 2018. "She's a very ethical person and very conscientious, she brought that up it had been weighing her," he added.
Farrow noted that he wants "to be open when people want to go there" about his family history. "I try to drive positive things out of it," he concluded.
You can listen to the whole episode of Keep It! here.
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