Soon-Ye Previn, the wife of film director Woody Allen, emailed Jeffrey Epstein to tell the convicted sex offender that the #MeToo justice movement had “gone too far” and smeared an underage girl at the center of a sexting case as “despicable and disgusting” instead of the former U.S. congressman who was jailed for illegally sending messages to minors, according to recently released government documents.
Previn also wrote in a New York Times article about how her half-brother, Ronan Farrow, had received “more fame than he deserved.” A few months ago, he published a story about Harvey Weinstein. Harvey Weinstein is the disgraced movie mogul and now convicted sex offender who won a Pulitzer Prize and sparked the #MeToo movement.
The documents emerged on Friday in the so-called Epstein documents, which build on previous partial disclosures and were released by the U.S. Department of Justice under congressional transparency laws. The events come to light as Previn’s complicated history comes to light.
Many, including Farrow, have accused Allen, 90, of marrying Previn, 55, for grooming her as a young woman while dating her mother — although the couple said she was an adult when their relationship turned romantic.
Related: Newly released Jeffrey Epstein documents: 10 key takeaways so far
Previn and Allen were among a number of high-profile figures who maintained friendships with the late Epstein, even though the wealthy financier pleaded guilty in a Florida court in 2008 to soliciting prostitution from a minor. The new documents and previously released documents are filled with communications surrounding social gatherings — even detailing how Epstein once sent them genetic testing kits.
Moreover, the new documents show that Previn did not send emails to Epstein or one of his administrative assistants as late as the fall of 2018, less than a year before officials say he killed himself in federal custody while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges.
Among Epstein’s latest batch of millions of documents are numerous messages sent to Allen or to film producers’ assistants. Perhaps some of the most notable news, however, involved Previn, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
For example, she sent Epstein a Daily Mail article in September 2016 about how former congressman Anthony Weiner texted a 15-year-old girl asking her to undress for him and engage in rape fantasies. The article sparked another scandal for Weiner, whose political career has plummeted over previous sexting of sexually explicit messages to young women during their marriage.
“Wow,” Epstein replied to Previn.
“I know,” Previn responded, then added, “I also think what this 15-year-old did to Weiner was disgusting.”
“I hate women who take advantage of men and she is definitely one of them. She knows exactly what she is doing and how vulnerable she is [Weiner] “She pulled him on the bait like a fish,” Previn said of the child at the center of the case. “What excuse does she have for being a despicable and disgusting person? [weak]? “
She concluded her tirade by writing: “She is so controlling. She should be ashamed of herself.”
Weiner later pleaded guilty in May 2017 to federal charges of distributing obscene material to a minor and was sentenced to one year and nine months in prison.
Documents show that starting in the fall of 2017, Previn wrote to Epstein about the #MeTooMovement and Farrow, including once to herself.
One of Allen’s agents forwarded to Previn a Deadline article that followed up on her stepbrother’s explosive New Yorker report on multiple rape allegations against Weinstein. The Deadline article recounts how an NBC News executive told employees that Farrow had previously done a story on Weinstein for the network that the network decided not to publish, but that was different from the bombshell The New Yorker dropped that effectively kicked the #MeToo movement into high gear.
Allen’s agent wrote to Previn that “he may be done at NBC now,” where Farrow worked for three years starting in 2014. Previn then forwarded the agent’s email to Epstein without comment.
Then, in early 2018, Previn forwarded to Epstein an email she originally sent to herself, with the subject line, “Just as the Me Too movement has gone too far, Botox has gone too far.”
Previn sent himself another email about eight months later, after Farrow won his share of that year’s Pulitzer investigative report, the Epstein files revealed on Friday. Its subject: “I thought this was interesting in the New York Times Arts section today.”
The text of the message on September 19, 2018 read: “This has given Ronan Farrow too much prestige. More than he deserves.”
It was unclear from the documents which article Previn was referring to. But that’s when the Times Arts section published an article about how the previous night’s Emmy Awards had mostly avoided mentioning #MeToo, with one exception being co-host Colin Jost joking that the scariest thing a network executive could hear was “Sir, Ronan Farrow is on the front line.”
In July 2019, during the first term of Epstein’s former friend Donald Trump, federal authorities arrested Epstein on sex trafficking charges. He died about a month later at a federal prison in Manhattan, officials said.
Previn and Allen’s marital status has long been under scrutiny. Actor Mia Farrow and her then-husband Andre Previn adopted Soon-Yi from South Korea when she was six years old. Ronan’s mother, Mia Farrow, was divorced from Andre Previn and began dating Allen when Soon-Yi was 11 years old. The couple said Allen’s romantic relationship with Soon-Yi Previn began when she was 21 and he was still dating her mother.
A 2021 HBO documentary explores allegations that Allen sexually assaulted his daughter Dylan in 1992. Both he and Previn responded to the Allen v. Farrow documentary with statements saying “these accusations are absolutely false” and suggesting they never resulted in criminal charges.
Interest in how the federal government handled Epstein’s case surged after Trump pledged during his successful campaign for a second term in 2024 to release a full list of the late Epstein’s clients. However, after taking office in early 2025, Trump’s Justice Department announced that no such list existed, causing a bipartisan uproar.
The president later signed a congressional bill directing his justice department to reveal more of the Epstein dossier than previously released to relieve some of the political pressure he was putting on himself. Friday’s Epstein filing, as well as several others since November, stem from the act.
