Woody Allen Boasts About Saving and Educating His Wife in Tremendously Creepy New Interview

You’ll be glad to hear that Woody Allen sleeps great. “Like a dead person,” he told the Hollywood Reporter, in a recent interview out today. He also shared some thoughts about how he Pygmalion-ed his wife into a sophisticated lady, and a few ominous hints about a new TV show he’s making with Miley Cyrus, who once caught his eye on a TV show his children used to watch. (The show was Hannah Montana, just in case you still weren’t sure what to think about Woody Allen!)

It’s really never a good idea for Allen to talk to the press, but the Hollywood Reporter interview is really something, even by those standards. Back in July, Allen could be found boasting about his “paternal” relationship with his wife Soon-Yi Previn, who was his previous wife Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter. This time around, Allen told Stephen Galloway all about how he’s been able to make Previn’s life better, turning her into “a different person.” Heartwarming.

The whole exchange, which really must be read in full:

How has your wife, Soon-Yi, changed you?

Oh, well, one of the great experiences of my life has been my wife. She had a very, very difficult upbringing in Korea: She was an orphan on the streets, living out of trash cans and starving as a 6-year-old. And she was picked up and put in an orphanage. And so I’ve been able to really make her life better. I provided her with enormous opportunities, and she has sparked to them. She’s educated herself and has tons of friends and children and got a college degree and went to graduate school, and she has traveled all over with me now. She’s very sophisticated and has been to all the great capitals of Europe. She has just become a different person. So the contributions I’ve made to her life have given me more pleasure than all my films.

You’re saying how you changed her. How has she changed you?

(Allen pauses.) Well, she’s given me a lot of pleasure. I adore her, and she’s given me a wonderful life. We’ve been married 20 years. And we were together for a few years before that. And she has given me the great years of my life, personally. She’s a great companion and a great wife. She has given me a stable and wonderful home life and great companionship. I guess whenever you meet somebody and they’re the right person for you, there is a great emotional contribution they make to your life.

But has she changed you in any way?

(Pauses.) Changed me? I don’t know if you could say she changed me. I don’t know if I’ve changed. I might be the same person I was when I was 20. I’m not sure. I mean, I seem to have the same habits, the same work habits, the same phobias, the same enjoyments. I don’t think I have changed much over the years at all. When you mention it, I try and think about the ways [I’ve changed]. I don’t know if I’ve changed much.

(Pause.)