Mira Sorvino has apologised to Dylan Farrow for "turning a blind eye" to the sexual abuse allegations she made against her adoptive father Woody Allen.
Mira Sorvino
The 50-year-old actress has admitted that as a "naive young actress" she didn't look into the shocking claims made against the filmmaker because she had so much admiration for his work after she won an Oscar for her role in 1996's 'Mighty Aphrodite'.
But, since speaking with Woody's son Ronan Farrow, 30, Mira feels she owes an apology to 32-year-old Dylan because she and many other people in the industry ignored her cry for help and continued to heap praise on the 82-year-old Hollywood legend.
Writing in an essay for the Huffington Post, she said: "It is difficult to sever ties and denounce your heroes, your benefactors, whom you fondly admired and felt a debt of gratitude toward for your entire career's existence.
"To decide, although they may be fantastically talented and helped you enormously, that you believe they have done things for which there can be no excuse. But that is where we stand today. I confess that at the time I worked for Woody Allen I was a naive young actress. I swallowed the media's portrayal of your abuse allegations against your father as an outgrowth of a twisted custody battle between Mia Farrow and him, and did not look further into the situation, for which I am terribly sorry ...
"I am so sorry, Dylan! I cannot begin to imagine how you have felt, all these years as you watched someone you called out as having hurt you as a child, a vulnerable little girl in his care, be lauded again and again, including by me and countless others in Hollywood who praised him and ignored you. As a mother and a woman, this breaks my heart for you. I am so, so sorry!"
Dylan - the adoptive daughter of Allen and his former partner Mia Farrow - wrote an open letter about Woody in 2014, alleging he abused her in a "dim, closet-like attic" at their family home when she was just seven years old.
'Hannah and Her Sisters' actress Mia Farrow never pressed charges against Woody, which Ronan believes was a decision she made to try and protect Dylan.
Woody and Mia, 72, have had an embittered relationship ever since the Hollywood legend left her and married Soon-Yi Previn - the daughter Mia adopted with her second husband Andre Previn - in 1997.
Woody and Soon-Yi have two adopted children together, grown-up daughters Bechet and Manzie.
Tagged in Woody Allen Mia Farrow Mira Sorvino