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Honestly with Bari Weiss

Woody Allen on Life and Death

Honestly with Bari Weiss

The Free Press

News, Society & Culture

4.67.8K Ratings

🗓️ 17 September 2025

⏱️ 100 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

You know the name Woody Allen. Everyone does. He’s made some of the most acclaimed films ever made: Annie Hall, Hannah and Her Sisters, Crimes and Misdemeanors—he list goes on and on and on. He’s made an astonishing 50 movies. You see his influence everywhere, from sitcoms to stand-up to just about every rom-com made since Annie Hall premiered in 1977. And in the process, he turned himself into America’s most unlikely leading man: short, thinning hair, bespectacled, and exceptionally neurotic. Now, at age 89, Allen is out with his first novel, What’s With Baum? Its protagonist is an anxious, smart Jewish writer with a messy personal life who gets himself in a great deal of trouble. Yes, it’s like a Woody Allen movie in book form. It’s also funny and delightful, and touches on a major theme of our age: the idea that an accusation, once made, is as good as a conviction. Allen knows something about that. In 1992, his longtime romantic partner Mia Farrow discovered that Allen had begun a relationship with her adopted daughter, Soon-Yi Previn. Allen was in his 50s at the time, Previn was just 21. All hell broke loose, with Farrow accusing Allen of grooming and preying on her daughter. The scandal became fodder for tabloids and late-night talk shows but soon took a much darker turn, with Farrow accusing Allen of molesting their 7-year-old daughter Dylan in August 1992. The charges were never proven in court—indeed they were twice dismissed—but the court of public opinion was another matter. Today on Honestly, we get into everything about Allen—from the accusations to his subsequent cancellation in the MeToo era to his childhood in Brooklyn and his climb from Flatbush to the commanding heights of American comedy, film, and culture. We delve into how he’s changed and the many ways in which he hasn’t. We talk about his marriage to Previn, which is still going strong after 28 years. His thoughts on President Donald Trump, NYC mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, The New York Times, and American politics more broadly. We’ll hear what he thinks about life, death, and aging as he approaches 90, and much, much more. A special thanks to our sponsors: New episodes of The Isabel Brown Show can be viewed on DailyWire+ here: ⁠⁠www.dailywire.com/show/the-isabel-brown-show⁠⁠Follow Isabel on X: ⁠⁠www.x.com/theisabelb⁠⁠Follow Isabel on Instagram: ⁠⁠www.instagram.com/theisabelbrown Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

Hi, honestly, listeners. I have an amazing announcement. We're trying something different this week at the free press. We're calling it free press, free week. For one week only, everything we publish, every story, column, investigative report, live stream, podcast, you name it. It's going to be free to all from October 6 to October 12th. It's free access to our

0:23.4

fearless journalism to any user who creates a registered account. We're also curating a collection

0:29.0

of some of our favorite pieces from the archives, timeless stories that we think are worth

0:33.4

revisiting, and you'll be able to read all of those freely in one place. For Free Press,

0:38.5

free week, you can expect fresh columns and essays from some of your favorite writers,

0:43.2

like Matty Friedman, Abigail Shrier, Tyler Cowan, Jed Rubenfeld, Matthew Contenetti,

0:49.3

Coleman Hughes, Susie Weiss, and of course, Nellie Bowles' TGIF. We'll also invite you to join our live-streamed conversations, which are normally reserved for paid subscribers.

0:59.7

They'll include a conversation between me and Neil Ferguson, a conversation about the New York mayoral race with Ollie Weissman, Olivia Rheingold, and Mark Halpern.

1:09.6

There'll be a conversation with Abigail Schreier

1:11.9

and a TGIF live stream with Nellie Bowles and Will Ron. You are not going to want to miss any of this.

1:17.6

Again, this is only from October 6 to October 12th. So don't miss a story. Share this widely,

1:23.7

and see for yourself what the free press is all about.

1:28.6

From the free press, this is honestly and I'm Barry Weiss.

1:33.0

You know the name Woody Allen.

1:34.9

Everybody does.

1:36.0

He's made some of the most acclaimed films ever.

1:39.2

Annie Hall.

1:40.1

I would never want to belong to any club that would have someone like me for a member.

1:48.0

That's the key joke of my adult life in terms of my relationships with women. Hannah and her sisters.

1:49.0

I'm so frightened I can't move, speak, breathe.

1:54.0

Well, you're just fine.

1:57.0

There's absolutely nothing here at all.

...

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