With the recent release of the HBO documentary series Allen v. Farrow, the public is once again revisiting Woody Allen’s ugliest scandals. To date, his ex-partner Mia Farrow and their adopted daughter Dylan Farrow maintain that Allen sexually molested Dylan in 1992. Even his own son, Ronan Farrow, is convinced of his father’s guilt.
But are the father and son even related? Allen’s controversies aren’t limited to alleged sexual misconduct. In recent years, his relationship to Ronan has also come into question. Rumors have swirled that they are not biologically linked and that Ronan’s true dad is Mia Farrow’s ex-husband, Frank Sinatra.
Get the details on this theory, and decide for yourself if the real father of Ronan Farrow is Frank Sinatra.
Ronan Farrow Is The Son Of Mia Farrow And Woody Allen
Ronan Farrow was born on December 19, 1987, in New York City to Mia Farrow and Woody Allen.
At the time, his mother—an actress who had appeared in countless Allen films—was in a long-term relationship with the famed director. Farrow was born into an unusually large family; Mia had three biological sons from a previous marriage, plus five adopted children. And between 1992 and 1995, she adopted five more kids.
But two major scandals eventually tore the family apart. In 1992, a month after Allen adopted two of Mia’s children (Moses and Dylan), the actress discovered nude photos of her adopted daughter Soon-Yi in Allen’s apartment.
“She was in her first year of college and they were all just like… They wouldn’t put them in Playboy,” Mia said in Allen v. Farrow. They were like, I don’t know, Hustler pictures or something. [They] really were raunchy pictures and I, you know, I… I remember struggling to breathe…
“I took the photos and I put them in my pocket…” she continued. “I was just like shaking. And I took my child home and I locked the door.”
Mia confronted Soon-Yi and told her, “it’s not your fault.” But when she finally faced Allen, she says the director couldn’t get his story straight.
“And then Woody was there for like four hours, just talking and talking and talking,” she said. “And first he said, ‘I’m in love with Soon-Yi. I would marry her.’ And then he said, ‘No, I just said that. It’s something I thought of in the car. I thought it would make it better if I put it that way. No, I love you.’ Then it was all that for four hours: ‘I made a mistake, I lost control.’ Blah-blah-blah. I didn’t know what to think. I just needed him to get out.”
Allen eventually married Soon-Yi in 1997.
The incident was awful enough on its own. But it was eclipsed by allegations that Allen molested 7-year-old Dylan that same year. On August 5, 1992, one of Mia’s babysitters informed her that she witnessed strange behavior between Dylan and Allen the previous day. Dylan allegedly told her mother that Allen had touched her inappropriately when they were alone in the attic of Mia’s Connecticut home.
Mia relayed the story to Dylan’s pediatrician; the doctor then reported the incident to authorities. According to Vanity Fair, “Allen had been in therapy for alleged inappropriate behavior toward Dylan with a child psychologist before the abuse allegation was presented to the authorities or made public.” He also refused to take a polygraph administered by the Connecticut state police.
However, some results of an investigation worked in his favor. A March 1993 report by the Child Sexual Abuse Clinic of Yale New Haven Hospital determined that Dylan was not sexually abused. Allen denies any wrongdoing to this day.
But Ronan Farrow remains firm in his position. He believes his adopted sister, who confirmed the abuse in a 2014 New York Times article. He has been estranged from Allen since his parents’ 1992 split. “He’s my father married to my sister,” Ronan said in an interview. “That makes me his son and his brother-in-law. That is such a moral transgression.”
Frank Sinatra Was Mia Farrow’s First Husband
Prior to her drama with Allen, Mia Farrow was already well-acquainted with being a subject of controversy. On July 19, 1966, at the age of 21, she married 50-year-old Rat Pack crooner Frank Sinatra. The May-December romance raised eyebrows, but not for long—after only two years, he served her with divorce papers.
Although Mia moved on (she married composer Andre Previn before dating Allen), the former remained close until Sinatra’s death in 1998. “She never stopped loving him,” Sinatra biographer Darwin Porter told the Daily Express. “Sinatra was the love of her life. It was a love affair that continued even after their divorce and they remained close till the end. She told friends that she was still very much in love with him.”
Mia confirmed it herself in a 2013 interview with Vanity Fair. “We never really split up,” she said.
Ronan Farrow And Frank Sinatra Look Eerily Similar
Mia’s confession made the rumor mill churn. Was Ronan really the son of Woody Allen, or did Mia ever rekindle her romance with Sinatra on the side?
In 2019, Ronan appeared on Real Time with Bill Maher to promote his book, Catch and Kill: Lies, Spies and a Conspiracy to Protect Predators. The host couldn’t help but use the appearance as an opportunity to bring up the burning question on everyone’s mind.
“Now, what do you think your father would think about what you’re doing now?” asked Maher.
“Meaning?” Farrow responded.
“If he were alive,” continued Maher.
“I knew I was walking into that so I asked,” Farrow said. “I didn’t want to give you the sound-bite of ‘Which one?’ You wanted it so badly, Bill. We are now three for three on times I’ve been on the show and you’ve mentioned it.”
“I feel like there’s no one more #MeToo-y than Frank Sinatra,” said Maher. “You do own a mirror, don’t you?”
Farrow laughed it off, but there’s no denying that he bears a striking resemblance to Sinatra, from the blue eyes to the jawline. Even their forehead wrinkles are a match. Some might say Ronan looks more like Sinatra than his own son, Frank Sinatra Jr.
Is Ronan Farrow Actually Frank Sinatra’s Son?
To date, no DNA tests have been conducted to scientifically prove that Sinatra is Ronan’s dad. But when Vanity Fair asked Mia asked point-blank if it was true, her answer was “Possibly.”
The magazine also reported that Ronan maintains a close relationship with Nancy Sinatra Jr. and Sr. “He is a big part of us, and we are blessed to have him in our lives,” Nancy Jr. wrote in an e-mail.
Keeping with the lighthearted tone of his Bill Maher interview, Ronan wrote in a now-deleted tweet, “Listen, we’re all probably Frank Sinatra’s son.”
In a 2018 Vulture interview, even Allen admitted that anything is possible.
“In my opinion, [Ronan is] my child,” he said. “I think he is, but I wouldn’t bet my life on it. I paid for child support for him for his whole childhood, and I don’t think that’s very fair if he’s not mine. Also, [Mia] represented herself as a faithful person, and she certainly wasn’t. Whether she actually became pregnant in an affair she had…”
Regardless, Ronan was raised to believe Allen was his biological father; therefore he continues to hold him accountable for his alleged misconduct. “I cannot have a relationship with my father and be morally consistent,” he said.