A woman, who says she began dating Woody Allen while she was 16 and in high school, has come forward with her story of her time with the filmmaker and how she feels she’s the inspiration for one of Allen’s most famous films.
Christina Engelhardt was only 16 when she met a 41-year-old Allen, according to a new report from THR. She says that he never asked her age, but understood that she was in high school at the time they began what would be an 8 year intimate relationship, while she pursued a modeling career in Manhattan.
In the new report, she claims that her reasoning for coming forward with her story is definitely inspired by the #MeToo movement, but not necessarily meant to be the same sort of damning report that has taken down some of Hollywood’s biggest names.
“What made me speak is I thought I could provide a perspective. I’m not attacking Woody,” she says. “This is not ‘bring down this man.’ I’m talking about my love story. This made me who I am. I have no regrets.”
Engelhardt admits that the relationship with Allen was far from conventional, and for the most part, physical, as there were two major rules – no talking about his work and they would only meet at his apartment. But, as she recounts, the relationship was fairly consistent over the next several years, including instances where Allen would bring additional girls for them to experience intimate situations with.
It wasn’t until four years into the relationship that Engelhardt began questioning her status in Allen’s life. That’s when the filmmaker introduced the young model to his “girlfriend” Mia Farrow. Up to that point, Engelhardt assumed she was the “girlfriend” to Allen, and was taken aback by the news. However, that didn’t stop the model and filmmaker from continuing their intimate relationship, which even included Farrow’s involvement on a “handful” of encounters.
“There were times the three of us were together, and it was actually great fun. We enjoyed each other when we were in the moment,” says Engelhardt. “She was beautiful and sweet, he was charming and alluring, and I was sexy and becoming more and more sophisticated in this game. It wasn’t until after it was done when I really had time to think of how twisted it was when we were together … and how I was little more than a plaything.”
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She continues, “While we were together, the whole thing was a game that was being operated solely by Woody so we never quite knew where we stood.”
The full nature of their relationship didn’t come into focus until Engelhardt saw Allen’s film “Manhattan.” For those not familiar with the Academy Award-nominated film, “Manhattan” tells the story of an older man (Allen), who begins a relationship with a much-younger girl (Oscar-nominated Mariel Hemingway).
“I didn’t know anything going [into watching ‘Manhattan’ for the first time] — that’s how little I knew about what he was working on,” she says.
Engelhardt has written two manuscripts for memoirs about her life, both unreleased and kept private. But the report reveals one portion of the memoir about the first time the young woman saw “Manhattan,” after the relationship with Allen had fizzled out.
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“I cried through most of the movie, the dawning of realization slowly settling in as my greatest fears crept to the surface,” she wrote. “How could he have felt this way? How was our partnership not something more than just a fling? We had shared such a special bond right from the start, something magical, and now here was his interpretation of me and us on the big screen for all to see in black-and-white. How could he deconstruct my personality and our life together as if it were just some fictional creation for art house fatheads to pore over?”
Engelhardt admits that she’s probably not the only inspiration for the character of Tracy, as she knows that Allen had similar relationships with other teenage girls (including one other underage woman).
“I was a fragment,” she explains. “Great artists cherry-pick.”
This latest chapter in the life of Woody Allen adds to a renewed interest in the claims that the filmmaker has had sexually inappropriate relationships with underage people in the past, including allegations of molestation from his adopted daughter. However, up until now, outside of one of his films being shelved, it appears that Allen still have plenty of defenders and seems untouchable. We’ll have to wait and see how this new story affects his standing in Hollywood and if this means that his reputation is irreparably damaged.