Barbara Walters Defends Woody Allen on 'The View'
Barbara Walters and Sherri Shepherd had a shrill disagreement about controversial director Woody Allen during a segment of ‘The View’ this week.
The ABC co-hosts were involved in a discussion about an open letter that Dylan Farrow published in the New York Times, detailing alleged sexual abuse she suffered at the hands of her stepfather at age 7.
Walters sang the praises of her pal, “I have rarely seen a father as sensitive, as loving and as caring as Woody and Soon-Yi are to these girls. I don’t know about Dylan. I can only tell you what I have seen now. That it’s a good marriage, and he’s a loving, caring father. I think that has to be said.”
“Supposedly Dylan is very angry, but she is doing it now because he is up for an award. So the question is: does your personal life interfere with the awards you may get?”
Shepherd was having none of it. She countered, “We’ve heard so many cases of people going, ‘He was the most wonderful person in the world. I would have never thought he would’ve done…’ There are so many things that go on behind closed doors. We also know that he was with Soon-Yi when she was very young. He has a track record.”
Barbara said smugly, “The fact that he likes ‘younger women’ has nothing to do with it. It was mutual. To condemn this man now is unfair.”
Sherri wailed, “It was his stepdaughter that he messed around with! That was his stepdaughter, Barbara. He married his stepdaughter!”
Allen ended his long term relationship with actress Mia Farrow after she discovering the affair between her adopted teenage daughter and the famed movie director.
During a subsequent custody battle for his biological children, the former ‘Peyton Place’ star claimed Allen had sexually abused her daughter Dylan. Charges were later dropped when Mia decided the young girl was too fragile to testify to the allegations in court.
Check out the heated disagreement between co-hosts on the video clip below:
Photo: Video Screen Grab
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