Woody Allen was a famous Luddite during his decades-long reign in Hollywood, sneering at modern technology at every opportunity (even refusing digital prints for his movies). But that attitude did not extend to those in his household, as a slew of private emails from his wife Soon-Yi Previn to Jeffrey Epstein proved this week.
Numerous unearthed communications from Allen’s wife, Soon-Yi Previn, give insight into the couple’s personal history – and suggest close ties to Epstein, the late convicted sex offender and human trafficker.
Writing on both her own behalf and her husband’s from a personal email account, Previn talked to Epstein about current events and and asked him for favors, documents from the U.S. Department of Justice suggest.
A 2021 exchange shows Previn profusely thanking Epstein for helping daughter Bechet Allen gain admission to New York’s Bard College, thanks to a personal connection the billionaire had with school president Leon Botstein.
“I think it’s best that Bechet struggles and doesn’t know ahead of time that she got in so that when she gets into Bard she will have sweated it out a bit and will really want to go. Thank you for coming through for us,” Previn wrote Epstein. “I can’t tell you how much this means to me. Woody said when Bechet sets fire to the school they’ll have you to thank.”
Representatives for Bard College did not immediately return Variety’s request for comment, though a spokesperson for Botstein told the New York Times that Epstein was “a serial liar who apparently took credit for the sun rising each day.” The rep added that Bechet Allen was admitted “on the merits of her own qualifications,” as a reported 40% of hopeful students are to Bard each year.
A representative for Woody Allen did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A direct request to Previn for comment went unanswered.
There’s also a 2016 exchange between Previn and Epstein, discussing disgraced politician Anthony Weiner following his conviction for transferring obscene material to a minor.
“She knew exactly what she was doing and how vulnerable [Weiner] was, and she reeled him in like fish to bait,” Previn wrote of the 15-year-old girl that Weiner attempted to solicit nude photos from. “What is her excuse for being a despicable and disgusting person,” she pondered, saying the minor in the case treated Weiner as “prey.”
Outside of hot topics and the academic aspirations of her kids, Previn freely shared thoughts with Epstein about the famous figures she and Woody Allen intersected with.
“I’m glad that prick Chalamet’s movie did not get a good review,” she wrote in 2018, referring to Timothée Chalamet. The “Marty Supreme” actor was the lead in Allen’s “A Rainy Day in New York,” which Amazon shelved that same year. The production was plagued by scandal as #MeToo consumed the culture and the world re-litigated Allen’s own past accusations of sexual abuse against daughter Dylan Farrow.
“No I’m not vindictive,” Previn added of Chalamet, who was starring in Amazon’s “Beautiful Boy” at the time.
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