Ronan Farrow is getting a lot of attention for his investigative journalism — specifically, his stories that expose sexual abuse by prominent men. His most recent piece, published Sunday in The New Yorker, was about Michelle Ramirez, a 53-year-old woman who alleges Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh exposed himself to her during college at Yale.
Kavanaugh denies the allegations Farrow and co-reporter Jane Mayer write about in the piece.
“This is a smear, plain and simple,” Kavanaugh told The New Yorker.
Farrow has gained a reputation as a reporter not afraid to take on the most powerful people in media and Hollywood. But, who is Ronan Farrow?
Ronan Farrow is Woody Allen’s estranged son
Satchel Ronan O’Sullivan Farrow, 30, is the son of filmmaker Woody Allen and The Great Gatsby actress Mia Farrow. The relationship between Allen and his son is estranged — and though it’s often believed that Farrow changed his last name to avoid being associated with his father, he was given his mother’s last name at birth.
The now-30-year-old ventured more into the public eye after his sister, Dylan Farrow, wrote an essay alleging that Allen sexually abused her. Her brother later defended his sister in his own essay for The Hollywood Reporter.
“I believe my sister,” he wrote in 2016. “This was always true as a brother who trusted her, and, even at 5 years old, was troubled by our father’s strange behavior around her: climbing into her bed in the middle of the night, forcing her to suck his thumb — behavior that had prompted him to enter into therapy focused on his inappropriate conduct with children prior to the allegations.”
Ronan Farrow’s articles exposed Harvey Weinstein
In 2017, Farrow exposed the sexual abuse allegations against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein — a report that inspired more of his victims to come forward and, ultimately, inspired the #metoo campaign.
“I think for every woman in this story, this is a moment of validation that really they never expected,” Farrow told NPR’s All Things Considered after Weinstein was arrested in May 2018. “I had so many hard conversations with Harvey Weinstein’s accusers in which they turned over not only the considerable personal sacrifice that this entailed but also the near impossibility in their minds that should they make those sacrifices, they would ever be heard, that there would ever be accountability. Again and again, women said to me, you know, what’s the point? He’ll just go on with his career. And clearly that hasn’t happened. And I think that reflects a really significant change in the culture around this issue.”
He later published similar abuse allegations against CBS executive Les Moonves and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, leading both to resign from their positions in 2018.
Ronan Farrow had his own show on MSNBC
Farrow was briefly the host of Ronan Farrow Daily on MSNBC.
The show aired from February 2014 to February 2015 and was intended to be a show aimed toward social-media savvy young people.
Farrow signed another television deal earlier this year — this time with HBO — to create “newsworthy” pieces for the network’s platforms.
“Ronan Farrow’s extraordinary, revelatory reporting for the New Yorker has helped to propel a string of other investigations, breakthroughs and overdue conversations,” HBO programming president Casey Bloys told Variety. “His work has contributed to this watershed moment in our culture, and we are excited to provide a platform for this dogged reporter to pursue projects that continue to speak truth to power.”
Ronan Farrow worked for President Obama
Before pursuing a media career, the human-rights lawyer worked for the State Department under President Barack Obama. His official title was Special Adviser on Humanitarian and NGO Affairs, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Ronan Farrow is intellectually gifted
How has Farrow managed to create such an impressive resume at such a young age? He’s smart — really smart. The Rhodes Scholar graduated from high school at 15 and graduated from Yale Law at 21.
Woody Allen hints that Ronan Farrow isn’t his child
Farrow is publicly credit as being Allen’s biological son, but a longstanding rumor claims that his real father is Frank Sinatra. Mia Farrow was married to the singer from 1966 to 1968.
“In my opinion, he’s my child,” Allen said of the rumors about Farrow. “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 she represented herself as a faithful person, and she certainly wasn’t. Whether she actually became pregnant in an affair she had…”
Farrow hasn’t publicly commented on the rumors, but it’s obvious that there’s no love lost between him and Allen.
Missed the Woody Allen tribute – did they put the part where a woman publicly confirmed he molested her at age 7 before or after Annie Hall?
— Ronan Farrow (@RonanFarrow) January 13, 2014
“Missed the Woody Allen tribute – did they put the part where a woman publicly confirmed he molested her at age 7 before or after Annie Hall?” he tweeted after Allen received the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the 2014 Golden Globe Awards.
