Sunday, December 15, 2024

Flashback: Mia Farrow Adopted a Special Needs Child in 1995 and Named Him After the Judge in Her Custody Case

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Back in January 1995 I reported this for New York magazine’s Intelligencer. Mia Farrow, fresh from her custody trial with Woody Allen, adopted yet another kid. This was a special needs child whom she named Gabriel Wilk Farrow. The Wilk was a tribute to the judge in the custody case with Woody Allen, named Elliot Wilk. (He died in 2002.)

When I called the judge to ask what he thought about it, he replied, “Why not call him Gabriel Farrow Wilk?” Mind you, this was the judge still dealing with custody issues between Woody and Mia, but Mia sucked right up to him and he loved it. Last year, Woody recalled in his memoir how photographer Lynn Goldsmith told him Wilk once came to her house, drunk, and tried to sleep with her.

Mia changed Gabriel’s name to Thaddeus, but kept the Wilk. The sad part is that in 2016, Thaddeus Wilk Farrow committed suicide. He was one of three of Mia’s adopted children who died, two of them suicides. Thaddeus, who was paralyzed from polio, was found in his car suffering from a life threatening injury along Route 67 in Roxbury, Connecticut– not far from his own apartment and Mia’s Bridgewater farm.

Roger Friedman
Roger Friedmanhttps://www.showbiz411.com
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.

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