Woody Allen’s absent children
Allen brushes aside the idea that the absence of children in his work might be connected to his painful split with Mia Farrow.
Woody Allen has always mined his own life for his work, says Carole Cadwalladr in the London Observer. So it’s curious that there are almost no children in his films. This despite the fact that he adopted two children and had a son with his ex-partner Mia Farrow, and has since adopted two more children with his current wife, Soon-Yi. He brushes aside the idea that the absence of children in his work might be connected to his painful split with Farrow, after she discovered that he was involved with her adopted daughter, Soon-Yi. “There were never children in my films,” Allen says. “When I did Manhattan I made a list at the end of the movie of the things that made life worth living, and I got a letter from a lady saying: ‘You didn’t mention your child.’ Because I had a child in the movie, a young boy…I figured, so I didn’t mention my child, so what? It was only when I had children, over a decade later, that I realized what an egregious blunder that was.”
So does he have any contact with his and Farrow’s children? “Oh. Contact with those children? No, no. I don’t have contact with those children. I just have contact with my children.” But that, he says, was the court’s decision—not his. “There are things in life that are terrible, and you get over it. You move on.”
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Some mainstream Democrats struggle with Zohran Mamdani's surprise win
TALKING POINT To embrace or not embrace? A party in transition grapples with a rising star ready to buck political norms and energize a new generation.
-
How to make music part of your vacation
Let the rhythm move you
-
What is credit card churning and why is it risky?
the explainer Churners frequently open new credit cards with the intent of earning a welcome bonus and accessing other perks