Woody Allen Calls Relationship With Wife Soon-Yi Previn ‘Paternal’ In Candid Interview

Woody Allen, who is not known to divulge much in the way of personal information to the press, discussed his relationship to his wife Soon-Yi Previn in a recent interview.

Woody Allen On Soon-Yi Previn

Allen’s relationship with Previn was exposed as a major scandal in the early 90s. At the time, Allen had been in a roughly 10-year relationship with Mia Farrow, who was Previn’s adoptive mother. Farrow uncovered the relationship after coming across nude photos of Previn in Allen’s possession. Allen was 56. Previn was 21.

“I started the relationship with [Previn] and I thought it would just be a fling,” Allen told NPR’s Sam Fragoso. “It wouldn’t be serious, but it had a life of its own. And I never thought it would be anything more. Then we started going together, then we started living together, and we were enjoying it.”

Allen married Previn in 1997 and the two remain together to this day. The large age gap between them, according to Allen, instead of being a hindrance has been something that has helped their relationship work.

“The age difference didn’t seem to matter. It seemed to work in our favor actually,” Allen claims. “She enjoyed being introduced to many, many things that I knew from experience, and I enjoyed showing her those things.”

“I’m 35 years older, and somehow, through no fault of mine or hers, the dynamic worked. I was paternal. She responded to someone paternal,” Allen added. “I liked her youth and energy. She deferred to me, and I was happy to give her an enormous amount of decision making just as a gift and let her take charge of so many things.”

In the past, both Allen and Previn have gone out of their way to state that there was never a father-daughter dynamic to their relationship.

“I didn’t find any moral dilemmas whatsoever,” Woody told Time in 1992. “I didn’t feel that just because she was Mia’s daughter, there was any great moral dilemma. It was a fact, but not one with any great import. It wasn’t like she was my daughter.” He also stated, “She’s probably more mature than I am.”

In a separate interview with Time, Previn said, “To think that Woody was in any way a father or stepfather to me is laughable.”