Kirsten Dunst remembered being invited to a playdate as a child with Dylan Farrow, the daughter of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow.
In the wake of Mia and Woody’s explosive split, Dylan accused her father of abusing her when she was seven years old, allegations he has firmly denied.
Years earlier, when Kirsten was six, she made her film debut as Mia’s daughter in Woody’s part of the 1989 anthology film New York Stories.
“I remember they wanted to send a car to New Jersey to pick me up to play with Dylan,” she revealed in a new cover interview with Variety.
“My mom said, ‘I’m not sending my daughter in a town car to go on a play date without me,’” Kirsten said.
In a new cover interview with Variety, Kirsten Dunst recalled being invited to a childhood play date with Woody Allen and Mia Farrow’s daughter Dylan Farrow
Dunst is six years old on Mia Farrow’s lap and makes her film debut in Allen’s (middle) segment of the 1989 anthology pic New York Stories
Dylan is three years younger than Kirsten, which meant the future playdate would likely have taken place about four years before the alleged abuse.
Kirsten’s mother Inez Rupprecht, a Lufthansa flight attendant, kept an eye on her daughter as the little girl ventured into show business.
Inez and an acting coach who became a father figure to Kirsten were able to largely shield her from the vicissitudes of Hollywood.
Even as Kirsten and her childhood friend Molly strolled through the San Fernando Valley, Inez clandestinely followed their trail to make sure they were safe.
‘We didn’t know my mother would follow us in the car. “We were at Psychic Eye, a store on Ventura Boulevard, making angel cards and lighting candles,” she said.
However, when she was 16 years old, Kirsten had an encounter with a director she will not name who she believes verbally crossed the line with her.
‘I once had a meeting with a director, and he asked me an inappropriate question. And that was the only time. I was like, “That’s not cool.” But I didn’t say that (to him). I was panicking. “I didn’t know whether to answer or not,” she said.
Kirsten also commented on the new docuseries Quiet On Set, which aired allegations of sexual abuse against child stars at Nickelodeon.
Dylan accused her father of abusing her when she was seven, accusations he has firmly denied; Woody and Mia pictured in 1988 with their children Dylan (left) and Ronan
Kirsten eventually became a star in Neil Jordan’s Interview With A Vampire at the age of 12 (pictured)
‘It sounds very bad. There are a lot of care products and strange things happening,” says Kirsten, who became a star at the age of 12 through the film Interview With A Vampire.
During her career as a child actress, Kirsten also nabbed the role of Mena Suvari in American Beauty – that of a teenage girl who becomes an object of desire for Kevin Spacey’s adult character.
“I don’t know if I necessarily rejected it. I think I just turned down the meeting or something. But yeah, I just wasn’t comfortable with the sexuality,” she said.
When she was 16, Kirsten agreed to act in Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut The Virgin Suicides, overcoming her doubts about its sexual undercurrent.
“I was very nervous,” Kirsten revealed. “Because there’s a scene where I’m making out with all these guys on a roof of the house.”
But Sofia told her, “Don’t worry. You don’t have to kiss any of them. Just cover your hair and snuggle into their neck. We make sure it all works.’
Sofia noted for the Variety article, “I always felt protective of her and sensitive to what it might be like for her and that she was young.”
Woody and Mia became an item in 1980, forming a romantic and professional team that gave the world films like Crimes And Misdemeanors, Broadway Danny Rose, Zelig, Husbands And Wives and Hannah And Her Sisters.
When she was 16, Kirsten agreed to act in Sofia Coppola’s directorial debut The Virgin Suicides, and has worked regularly with the filmmaker since.
However, their relationship went up in flames in the early 1990s when Mia found what she called his “pornographic” photos of her adopted daughter Soon-Yi Previn.
The discovery led to a sensational custody battle that made headlines – and took a particularly dark turn when Woody and Mia’s adopted daughter Dylan accused her father of abusing her when she was seven.
Woody has vehemently denied the allegations and Connecticut prosecutors dropped the case against him due to lack of evidence.
However, in 1993, a judge ruled that Woody’s behavior toward Dylan was “grossly inappropriate and that measures should be taken to protect her,” causing the filmmaker to lose custody of all his children, including Ronan Farrow.
Woody, 88, married Soon-Yi, 53, in 1997, and the pair have remained together through the ups and downs of his career ever since.
The allegations against Woody came under renewed scrutiny in 2017 as the Me Too movement took off, spurred in part by Ronan’s expose on Harvey Weinstein.