Sean Penn weighed in on the controversy surrounding Woody Allen — and expressed his doubts over some claims — after Allen was accused of molesting his daughter Dylan Farrow in 1992.
“I loved working with him,” Penn, 64, said during the Tuesday, May 13, episode of the “Louis Theroux” podcast, referring to his and Allen’s 1999 film Sweet and Lowdown. “I’d work with him in a heartbeat if it was the right thing.”
When asked whether he thinks Woody has a “bad rap” after the sexual assault allegations, Penn said he doubts there’s validity behind the claims. (Allen, 89, has denied any wrongdoing for decades.)
“With these things, I don’t know anyone well enough to say, ‘100 percent, this didn’t happen, that didn’t happen,’” Penn said, noting, “God forbid you’re wrong and there’s a victim involved in something.”
The Fast Times at Ridgemont High actor explained that while he hasn’t “read everything” about the case, the stories he has read are “mostly told by people that I wouldn’t trust with a dime.” Penn confessed, “It just seems so heavily weighted in that way.”
Louis Theroux questioned whether Penn was talking “generally” or about Allen specifically. The podcast host pointed out that in Allen’s case it was his estranged daughter, Dylan, who made the allegations as a 7-year-old and maintained her story for years.
Penn noted that Allen’s son Ronan Farrow also spoke about the alleged abuse, backing his sister’s claims. When Theroux addressed him as “Ronan Farrow the journalist,” Penn quipped, “You gave him that title, not me, but yes, Ronan Farrow,” hinting that he didn’t agree with Theroux’s assertion that Ronan is a “respected” journalist.
The actor then revealed his reason for being skeptical of the claims against Allen, saying, “I am not aware and maybe I am just ignorant, that’s a possibility. I am not aware of any clinical psychologist or psychiatrist or anyone I’ve ever heard talk or spoken to around the subject of pedophilia that in 80 years of life, there’s accusations of it happening only once.”
Penn said, “When people try to associate what were his, let’s say, his much younger girlfriends. Right or wrong is not the conversation here.” He noted that “post-puberty consensual stuff is to me a different conversation,” insinuating that the issue of consent is different for an adult woman.
“I just think that whatever is the worst of people’s suspicions about him, you know, just check ‘em with the facts separate from the moment and the [Me Too] movement and all who benefited from that,” Penn continued, asking listeners to “just take a second. That’s all I’m saying.”
The Oscar winner added that for him, it’s all about innocent until proven guilty. “I see he’s not proven guilty, so I take him as innocent and I would work with him in a heartbeat,” Penn concluded.
Dylan accused Allen of assaulting her when she was 7 years old in 1992 amid Allen’s split from her mom, Mia Farrow. Allen, who was Dylan’s adoptive father, denied the allegations and was never charged in relation to the matter.
Decades later, Dylan recounted the alleged abuse in a 2014 New York Times op-ed and again in HBO’s four-part docuseries, Allen v. Farrow, released in February 2021.
Allen, meanwhile, spoke out about his daughter’s claims during a conversation on CBS Sunday Morning conducted in July 2020 but wasn’t released until March 2021 on Paramount+.
“Nothing that I ever did with Dylan in my life could be misconstrued as that,” Allen said at the time, once again denying the allegations. “I never was accused of anything in my life. [Then] I’m suddenly going to drive up in the middle of a contentious custody fight at Mia’s country home [with] a 7-year-old girl. It just – on the surface, I didn’t think it required any investigation, even.”
The Annie Hall director has remained steadfast in his belief that ex-wife Mia, 80, coached Dylan to say that she was molested. “I believe she thinks it,” Allen said of Dylan. “She was a good kid. I do not believe that she’s making it up. I don’t believe she’s lying. I believe she believes that.”
Us Weekly has reached out to Penn for further comment.
If you or anyone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
