Back in the day when Woody Allen and Mia Farrow were in their very famous custody case, there was a lot of weird information about their judge, Elliot Wilk. As Woody notes in his new memoir, Wilk disregarded all the evidence in his favor and awarded custody of Ronan and Dylan Farrow solely to Farrow.
Later, Mia adopted a little boy with severe handicaps and named him Thaddeus Wilk Farrow. Years later, Thaddeus killed himself.
But in Woody’s memoir, “Apropos of Nothing,” a new story has emerged. Woody writes that Wilk, who’d presided over a case small claims court, made inappropriate contact with a party to a case.
The party was famed rock and roll photographer Lynn Goldsmith, who is so highly regarded for her pictures of, among others, Bruce Springsteen.
Woody writes:
Finally, the gifted still photographer Lynn Goldsmith told
me this story. She had been before Judge Wilk in a case
where he ruled in her favor. A day later he showed up at her
apartment unannounced and tried to sleep with her. When
she resisted and pointed out he was married, it did not
matter. He persisted. She finally got rid of him. Talk about
exploiting one’s status. But that’s the kind of man I was at
the mercy of.
I’ve been in touch with Goldsmith today, who basically confirmed the story. There other stories about Wilk that Woody relates:
Wilk’s irresponsible mischief extended much beyond my experience
with him. A child shrink told me the worst cases of suffering
for kids he dealt with inevitably came from bad judgment
in the Wilk court. Another weeping mother told me Wilk
had ruled against her because she had to postpone a court
date to attend her child’s birthday and he wouldn’t hear of
it. Another woman told me he ruled for her but refused to
ever enforce his ruling, so it was as if she’d lost the case.
Judge Wilk died in July 2002 at age 60 from brain cancer.
