Woody Allen 'immune' to criticism over his romance with Soon-Yi Previn

Woody Allen has said he was "immune" to the scandal that his relationship with Soon-Yi Previn caused when they went public with their romance. The film director started dating Soon-Yi, who was the adopted daughter of his then long-term partner Mia Farrow, in the 1990s, with Mia ending her relationship with Woody in 1992 after discovering the couple's affair.

Soon-Yi soon moved in with Woody, despite being 35 years his junior, and the pair tied the knot in December 1997.

Asked by the Hollywood Reporter whether he was at all troubled by the furore surrounding the matter, Woody, 80, replied: "Not at all.

"I was immune, yes I was. You can see I worked right through that, undiminished. Made films all through those years and at the same rate I was making them. I'm good that way. I am very disciplined and very monomaniacal and compartmentalised."

Woody then went on to speak about his wife of 18 years, and how much her life has changed for the better.

"She was an orphan on the streets, living out of trash cans and starving as a six-year-old. And she was picked up and put in an orphanage," he said. "I've been able to really make her life better. I provided her with enormous opportunities, and she has sparked to them. 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."