Woman says she dated Woody Allen when he was 41 and she was 16

Woody Allen.
(Image credit: imitrios Kambouris/Getty Images)

A woman has come forward to allege she had an eight-year sexual relationship with filmmaker Woody Allen beginning when she was underage.

Former model Babi Christina Engelhardt told The Hollywood Reporter Monday that she met Allen and began a relationship with him in 1976. She says they first became intimate when she was 16 years old, under New York's age of consent, which is 17. He was 41 at the time, and Engelhardt says while Allen never asked for her age, she told him she was in high school. This mirrors the plot of Allen's 1979 film Manhattan, in which Allen plays a 42-year-old man who dates a teenager.

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.