Farrow’s son has those ol’ blue eyes
Revelation Frank Sinatra may be father opens old family wounds
With his bright blue eyes and roguish good looks, Ronan Farrow has never much looked like his father, Woody Allen. He does, however, bearan uncanny resemblance to Frank Sinatra, the first husband of his mother, Mia Farrow.
Now the actress says there may be a very good reason for this: He could be the son of Ol’ Blue Eyes himself.
Responding to years of speculation, Farrow told Vanity Fair her 25-year-old son was “possibly” fathered by Sinatra, from whom she said she “never really split up” after their divorce in 1968.
Sinatra’s daughter, Nancy, confirmed that Ronan Farrow is treated as a member of her family. “He is a big part of us, and we are blessed to have him in our lives,” she said.
Making light of the disclosures, Ronan Farrow wrote on Twitter: “Listen, we’re all possibly Frank Sinatra’s son.”
His mother married Sinatra, who was 29 years her senior, in Las Vegas in 1966. She was 21, he was 50. They had been dating since she was 19. Sinatra demanded a divorce two years into the marriage while she was filming Roman Polanski’s horror film Rosemary’s Baby.
Farrow went on to have a nine-year marriage to pianist and composer André Previn before embarking on a 12-year relationship with Allen, while also starring in his films, in the 1980s, ending in 1992.
Farrow and Allen were never married and their relationship ended in notoriously acrimonious circumstances, when Allen had an affair with Soon-Yi Previn, one of Farrow and Previn’s adopted daughters.
The Farrows have never forgiven Allen, 77, who married Soon-Yi Previn, now 42, in 1997 and has two adopted daughters with her.
Ronan Farrow, a Yale University graduate, human rights activist and former youth adviser to Hillary Clinton, has repeatedly criticized Allen in recent years. “Happy father’s day — or as they call it in my family, happy brother-in-law’s day,” he wrote on Twitter in June last year. He has described Allen’s actions as “a moral transgression.”
Named Satchel Ronan O’Sullivan Farrow when he was born in 1987, Ronan Farrow was presumed to be the sole biological child of Allen and Mia Farrow.
If Sinatra is indeed the father, he and Farrow must have reunited, however briefly, while she was in her relationship with Allen. Sinatra died in 1998.
Farrow and Allen also adopted two children. In all,
“Happy father’s day — or as they call it in my family, happy brotherin-law’s day.” R ONA N FARROW, CRITICIZING WOODY ALLEN ON TWITTER IN JUNE 2012
Farrow has four biological children and nine adopted children. Two other adopted children have died.
The Vanity Fair article, based on interviews with Farrow and several of her children, reopened several family wounds. Dylan Farrow, Allen and Farrow’s adopted daughter, used it to revive allegations that Allen sexually molested her as a young girl.
“I was seven,” she said. “I was doing it because I was scared. I wanted it to stop.” She assumed “this was how fathers treated their daughters,” she said. “This was normal interaction, and I was not normal for feeling uncomfortable about it.”
After an investigation by child services officials, no charges were brought against Allen. His lawyer said he continues to deny the allegations.
Dylan Farrow said Allen had attempted to contact her twice, but she has refused to have any contact with him or even to say his name.
“I’m scared of him, his image,” she said.
Fletcher Previn, another of Farrow’s sons, said he had “Photoshopped” Allen out of every family photograph and edited him out of family videos, so they would never have to see him again.
Meanwhile, André Previn said of Soon-Yi Previn, his adopted daughter and Allen’s wife: “She does not exist.”