Woody Allen Says He Accepts a "Large Number of People" Won't Ever Believe Him

“Anything I say sounds self-serving and defensive, so it’s best if I just go my way and work," the filmmaker says.

Woody Allen says there is still some hope in him that people will believe he never molested his daughter — but he assumes the allegation will be noted in the beginning of his obituary. 

In an interview with The Guardian published Friday, the filmmaker once again addressed the allegations that have been dogging him for decades. 

“I assume that for the rest of my life a large number of people will think I was a predator," Allen told Hadley Freeman. “Anything I say sounds self-serving and defensive, so it’s best if I just go my way and work."

The 84-year-old recently had his memoir, Apropos of Nothing, released after it was dropped by original publisher Hachette following public pressure, with many noting the irony that it had also released his son Ronan Farrow's book Catch and Kill, about his challenges chasing stories about Harvey Weinstein's sexual assaults. 

Allen said he is done trying to convince the public he did not sexually abuse his daughter, Dylan, when she was a child, even though she is adamant he did. Her mother, Mia Farrow, Ronan and Dylan have all spoken out against Allen numerous times and criticized those who sought to protect him or dismiss Dylan's allegations.  

“You can give them the facts over and over," Allen said. "But the facts don’t matter. For some reason, emotionally, it’s important for them to buy into the story.”

That is also the reason Allen said he does not sue tabloids that do stories on the topic. “It doesn’t pay to sue," he said. "Do I really want to be tabloid fodder for two years and go to court? And do I really care?” 

As for actors who have spoken out against him, some even after working on one of his projects, Allen used "silly" to describe them. "The actors have no idea of the facts and they latch on to some self-serving, public, safe position. Who in the world is not against child molestation? That’s how actors and actresses are, and [denouncing me] became the fashionable thing to do, like everybody suddenly eating kale.”

Allen said he has accepted his name will never be cleared in the eyes of the public, so he will just continue to focus on work. “That’s the way it is, and all I can do is keep my nose to the grindstone and hope that people will come to their senses at some point," he said. "But if not, not. There are many injustices in the world far worse than this. So you live with it.”

Dylan Farrow responded to Allen's interview Friday afternoon, telling The Hollywood Reporter, “It remains baffling to me that Woody Allen claims not to care about people believing me and yet continues to petulantly complain about it while spreading his lies. One thing he is right about though is that there are far more important things to focus on than his fall from Hollywood’s grace.”

May 29, 1:25 p.m. Updated with comments from Dylan Farrow.