Ronan Farrow (New York, 1987) has always been special: the son of two mega stars such as Mia Farrow and Woody Allen, grandson of the highly gifted actress Maureen O'Sullivan (at the age of 15 he had already finished his Philosophy degree, which then he added a law degree from Yale University), worked in the Obama administration, was a television presenter ... And to that is added that he is one of the main promoters of the MeToo movement.
Farrow conducted a journalistic investigation into NBC television of the then alleged (and now proven) sexual abuse of powerful film producer Harvey Weinstein. But the latter, moving his threads, managed to prevent the report from being broadcast. But Farrow did not give up: He took all the material to The New Yorker magazine, where in 2017 he published several articles revealing Weinstein's numerous goings-on to hide his sexual crimes, winning the Pulitzer Prize a year .
But, in addition, Ronan Farrow wrote a book about that journalistic investigation. It is titled Predators and is now in Spain - it is already in electronic format and will soon be in print - from Roca Editorial. It is a necessary but absolutely terrifying book, which reveals the battery of methods deployed by Weinstein and others like him to hide their sexual crimes and continue to commit them with total impunity. But Predators is also a splendid thriller, a thriller in the style of detective novels. We spoke on the phone with Ronan Farrow. Her voice, from Los Angeles, sounds warm and friendly.
Question.- Her investigation reveals that to hide her sexual abuse, Weinstein pressured the media, invested a lot of money in intimidating and trying to discredit his victims, spent a fortune on lawyers and even hired a trained detective agency. by former members of Mosad (Israel's intelligence service). Does the rich man explain that he could go on with his abuse for so many years?
Answer.- Yes. It is the classic story of how people with money and influence are subject to different rules and standards, both in the treatment they receive from the media and in the control they have of the public narrative and even when it comes to accountability to the justice system. Weinstein ended up entering prison, but he managed many times to avoid justice. It's about wealth, power and how you can corrupt them.
Q. - Do you consider that, in addition, a culture of tolerance prevailed regarding sexual abuse?
R.- I think there has been. Now, luckily, we are experiencing a historic change. But one of the things that I find interesting in my book is that it shows the ins and outs of the cultural warfare surrounding sexual abuse, the level of tolerance for them that we are willing to admit. We have, for example, Donald Trump boasting about grabbing women ("by the pussy"), as revealed by a recording broadcast before the 2005 elections, and many people, most of them women, saying that it is enough and demanding that things change.
Q.- Why does justice not believe women?
A.- I think that is one of the changes we are seeing, although the situation in the United States is different from that of Spain. In the United States justice system, we are undoubtedly seeing changes, just as in journalism. For years in American journalism it was considered that reporting these things was not in good taste, that it was an intrusion into people's private lives ... It was also assumed that they were crimes that could not be proven. Something that, as a lawyer, has always seemed stupid to me, because sexual abuse is no different from other crimes, except that it often occurs behind closed doors. But even so, there are ways to demonstrate them.
Q.- How can they be demonstrated?
A.- The book shows the model that we created to demonstrate some of these sexual abuses: witnesses with whom the victim spoke immediately after the events occurred, witnesses who saw a woman leave a room crying ... Those testimonies every They have more weight in court, and also in journalism. In addition, many of Weinstein's cases were silenced with a checkbook with extrajudicial agreements, and that is also proof.
Q.- Critics of the MeToo movement wonder why these women remained silent for so many years. What is your response?
A.- Some victims were afraid of retaliation, some felt their lives threatened ... And those who spoke of these abuses frequently encountered the same reaction: "How can we be sure that he is telling the truth?" I managed to document that there were good reasons for these women to remain silent for so long: they followed them, spied on them ... That conspiracy, as crazy as it may seem, was absolutely real.
Q.- Does society understand the pain of these women?
A.- I think people are finally getting it. But we still have a long way to go . For me, as a journalist, the key is to listen to women, to survivors of abuse, because for a long time we have not listened to them.
Q.- Are there other Weinstein out there, other sexual predators, who continue their abuse without being unmasked?
R.- Of course, of course. Harvey Weinstein's is just the tip of the iceberg. In my book there are several stories, not only his: there is also that of Matt Lauer (former presenter of the NBC television network, fired in 2017), the efforts of Donald Trump to prevent some of his things from appearing in the media. . Many women have decided to say 'enough', this is only the beginning of a movement, you will come to light much more. Weinstein's is a story of abuse of power. And that abuse of power occurs in many places: in hospitals, in boardrooms ... But now more and more people are raising their voices against this impunity.
Q. - The fact that your sister Dylan has been reporting for years that she was sexually abused by her father, Woody Allen, and that you believe her, has it made you more sensitive in understanding these crimes?
A.- I think that all of this made me understand the scope of these crimes in a way that perhaps not everyone understood at the time, the degree of pain that these people are going through, understanding the reasons why they were silent for so long. weather. I think it brought me closer to those stories.
Q.- Woody Allen has recently published his autobiography, in which he once again denies that he sexually abused Dylan when she was 7 years old. You tried to prevent it from being published, right?
A.- Not exactly. I never tried to stop the publication of that book. It was a conflict of interest, because that publisher was already working with me, had published my book, a book that denounces the abuse of powerful men, Woody Allen included. And being aware of the accusations against Woody Allen, they decide to secretly acquire the rights for the publication of their memoirs, hiding it from me and the editors. I, for ethical reasons, cannot be in a company that takes out those two books and benefits from both. It is very important that the imbalance caused by the long-standing voice of people who have committed sexual abuse is addressed. And, if you do, you have to check what they say. But not only had they secretly acquired a book that was in conflict of interest with mine, but they had an agreement with Woody Allen not to review his book and not check if what he says in it is true. So I decided to end my relationship with that publisher.
Q. - If Woody Allen's alleged sexual abuse of his sister Dylan had occurred today instead of 1992, would the result have been different, perhaps he would have been convicted?
A.- Sure, I don't have the slightest doubt about it. I understand Woody Allen's fans and his desperate efforts to believe that he may be innocent. But, as an adult, I reviewed the court papers and realized that this was a credible indictment backed by numerous evidences, including forensic evidence and eyewitness accounts. If it had happened today, he would never have been allowed to freak out, ever. There were many procedural errors, and there was also a judicial system that closed ranks around powerful people. But I think that today people would understand what happened and they would not have let him get away with it. I firmly believe it.
Q.- Woody Allen was never declared innocent, right? There was simply no trial ...
R.- That's right. The prosecutors considered that although there were sufficient bases to continue with the process, it was better not to do it because my sister was a very fragile girl and it seemed to them that she could not bear being called to the stand. Also, Woody Allen hired an army of private investigators to dig in any kind of trash, the same system that I talk about in my book. Finally, a custody judge found his behavior towards the children to be inappropriate, and ordered that my sister have no contact with him for his own safety. It is the complete opposite of Woody Allen being innocent, even if the criminal trial was not carried out. I think they would have gone after him today.
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