Inside Woody Allen’s close friendship with Jeffrey Epstein

Photo illustration by Elizabeth Brockway / The Daily Beast / Getty

Over the past few weeks, audiences have been watching – and endlessly debating –Allen v. Farrow, the notable HBO documentary investigating Dylan Farrow’s allegation that her adoptive father Woody Allen took a 7-year-old Dylan to the attic of their Connecticut country house on August 4, 1992, and molested her.

The film, the fourth and final chapter of which airs on Sunday, March 14, bears witness to numerous members of the Farrow-Previn family, including Dylan, her brother Ronan, and their mother Mia; eyewitness accounts of family friends, neighbors, and hired help; interviews with government officials and city officials in New York and Connecticut; never before recorded telephone calls between Woody and Mia; and excavated documents from the New York and Connecticut investigations into Dylan’s welfare. (Allen and Soon-Yi, who did not want to take part in the series, issued a written statement by Allen’s sister stating that it was “an ax full of falsehoods” and that the abuse was “categorically false”).

Kirby Dick and Amy Ziering, the filmmaker behind Allen v. Farrow, feel that the Annie Hall filmmaker, whose behavior towards Dylan is considered by a judge to be “very inappropriate” in the trial over child custody he lost, should not just hide behind a prepared statement. “If you had nothing to hide and you were wrongly maligned, would you not want to talk to journalists?” Ornament told The Daily Beast. “What are you afraid of?”

‘Allen v. Farrow ‘Filmmakers exclaim Woody Allen:’ What are you afraid of? ‘

One thing Woody Allen is not afraid of is the defense of powerful men who are credibly accused of sexual misconduct. He served as one of Roman Polanski’s most outspoken defenders, saying the fugitive filmmaker was “a nice person” who “paid his fees” for raping a 13-year-old girl and then fled the country. , and in the immediate aftermath of the sexual accusations of assault against Harvey Weinstein, accused the victims of the film mogul of a witch hunt against him before stepping back.

And then there’s his friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.

It is not clear when Allen and Epstein first crossed paths, although the two were friends and neighbors on the Upper East Side in Manhattan for two years. The director and his wife, Soon-Yi Previn, were photographed several times and left the financier’s townhouse – including in September 2013, five years after Epstein pleaded guilty to child prostitution charges, when a Page six caption declares: “Woody Allen is with child sex crawl.”

Epstein ‘hugged him and spoke close to his ear’ and ‘had his arm on Woody’s shoulder’, one witness told the tabloid newspaper, adding that the friends apparently enjoyed a walk through Madison Avenue before heading to Epstein’s mansion with seven floors arrive.

The diplomat Terje Rød-Larsen joined this, together with his friend, filmmaker Håkon Gundersen, who told the Norwegian newspaper DN last October: “I heard that Epstein knows Woody Allen and several other well-known film producers. With my background I thought it was very interesting. ”

When Allen arrived, Epstein apparently told Gundersen, “Here you meet someone else who is also very interested in film.” Gundersen said they all visited Central Park about two hours that day before returning to Epstein’s home. (Woody Allen and Soon-Yi did not respond to several requests for comment for this story.)

Around the same time, Epstein hosted another dinner at his New York home, where he introduced Allen to a connection at MIT. Joi Ito, former director of the MIT Media Lab, “met other influential individuals during meetings with Epstein, including Woody Allen, a senior executive at the Hyatt Corporation, and a former Israeli prime minister,” according to a report released by the school instructed. on his ties with Epstein.

MIT staff even raised the possibility that Epstein would bring Allen to campus during his October 2013 visit. “Ito has expressed concern that the invitation of Epstein and Woody Allen to campus could create a headache for MIT,” the report said. Apparently with reference to the Page six story, Ito tried to bring Epstein back from Allen. “Since you were just in the news recently, I wonder if it could be bad,” Ito sent to the financier.

PUBLIC: We found the secret charity of billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein

But Allen apparently had no doubt about the conspiracy with a convicted sex offender serving a prison sentence in 2008 and 2009 for the request of a minor girl. In New York, Epstein was registered as a Level 3 offender, meaning he was a threat to public safety and at high risk of committing similar crimes again.

The duo apparently also had another mutual friend: Allen’s former teenage mistress, model Christina Engelhardt, who was 16 when she started dating the director in 1976. Their secret relationship lasted eight years, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Engelhardt tells The Daily Beast that she worked as a personal assistant for Epstein in the early 1980s, when he was ‘just a millionaire’ and ‘not yet’ when it comes to sexual people who have underage girls. She says she told Epstein that she was dating Allen, but that the two New Yorkers were not yet friendly.

“Nothing surprises me with one of the men,” Engelhardt offers. ‘I’m still shocked that these very talented people are choosing these sadistic ways to make them fall. There is nothing good about it. ”

Working for Epstein eventually became toxic, and Engelhardt decided to flee to Italy to serve as director Federico Fellini, an assistant (and muse). As for her time with Allen and Epstein, Engelhardt says, “I escaped one monster and ran away from the other one.”

‘Woody is a bad old man, ”she adds. “And the documentary helped me open my eyes to how bad.”

In December 2010, Allen attended a sumptuous dinner at Epstein’s residence, which was attended by British Prince Andrew, who is himself accused of abusing Virginia Roberts Giuffre, an alleged victim of Epstein. Other well-known guests at the party included TV journalists Katie Couric, Charlie Rose and George Stephanopoulos, publicist Peggy Siegal and comedian Chelsea Handler.

Then, Daily mail columnist Richard Kay reports that “Andrew in [a] joyful mood … especially when other guests, including Hollywood star Woody Allen, asked him for an invitation to the upcoming wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton.

Handler recently spoke about the event, which she described as ‘strange’, claiming that she tagged along with Couric and sat next to Allen and Soon-Yi. “When we got there, I looked like, what’s this event?” Handler recently said on Rob Lowe’s podcast. ‘We had dinner and it was so uncomfortable and so strange. I was like what are we doing here? And then I asked Woody Allen how he and Soon-Yi met and when I left. ‘

“I was really curious!” Handler added. “I forgot for a moment … but when it came out of my mouth, I knew it was too late.” Allen, however, was apparently amused. “And he loved it, and Soon-Yi, I do not think she heard it …”

Epstein reportedly decorated his home in New York with photos of himself and famous friends, including Allen, former President Clinton, and Mohammed bin Salman, the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who ordered the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

After Epstein’s suicide while awaiting trial on charges of underage sex trafficking, New York Times scribe James B. Stewart paid a visit to Epstein’s Manhattan mansion in August 2018 and spotted the photos with Allen and Clinton. “Showing photos of celebrities caught up in their own sex scandals also found me strange,” Stewart wrote, adding that Epstein called him a week later and invited him to a Saturday dinner with Allen. The reporter refused.

“The predominant impression I took from our approximately 90-minute conversation was that Mr. Epstein knew an astonishing number of rich, famous, and powerful people and had photographs to prove it,” Stewart continued. “He also claimed to know many of these people, some of whom may be harmful or embarrassing, including details of their alleged sexual detention and drug use for recreation.”

Allen was not Epstein’s only Hollywood commitment. The financier was friendly with the infamous film magnate Harvey Weinstein, who allegedly tried to attack a woman in Epstein’s job. His rolodex has included a number of other celebrities, including media investor Ron Burkle and actors such as Kevin Spacey, Alec Baldwin, Elizabeth Hurley and Minnie Driver.

As The Daily Beast reported earlier, Epstein and Allen also had mutual friends in Paris. Former French politician Jack Lang – who publicly defended Allen amid Dylan’s allegations of child sexual abuse – claiming he met Epstein in 2012 at a party hosted by Princess Camilla of Bourbon Two Sicilies. The soiree held the party in honor of Allen.

One Epstein victim even mentioned that she met Allen in a lawsuit she filed against the financier’s estate. The woman, named Priscilla Doe, says she was a 20-year-old dancer in New York when Epstein began abusing her from 2006 to 2012 – including when he was on a release at Palm Beach County.

‘Jeffrey Epstein forced on one occasion [Priscilla Doe] to serve hors d’oeuvres at Epstein’s private party with Woody Allen, ”reads Doe’s lawsuit. ‘The role of this server is forced [her] to humiliate her, scare her and impress her with the need to disguise the commercial sex trade business he runs. ”

Asked about Doe’s complaint, her lawyer Brad Edwards said: ‘Woody was a very good friend of Epstein’s. They visited quite often. I can not comment further. ”

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