Mia’s Story (1992)

Following Dylan Farrow’s open letter detailing her sexual abuse allegations against Woody Allen, a look back at Maureen Orth’s original 1992 Vanity Fair report:

There was an unwritten rule in Mia Farrow’s house that Woody Allen was never supposed to be left alone with their seven-year-old adopted daughter, Dylan. Over the last two years, sources close to Farrow say, he has been discussing alleged “inappropriate” fatherly behavior toward Dylan in sessions with Dr. Susan Coates, a child psychologist.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Feb 1, 2014
Length: 42 minutes (10,618 words)

What Katie Didn’t Know

A look behind-the-scenes at the alleged 2004 search by the Church of Scientology for the next Mrs. Tom Cruise:

“Nazanin Boniadi, 25, who had not yet become the human-rights activist for Amnesty International and the actor she is today, was summoned in October 2004 to meet an important church official at the Celebrity Centre International, in Hollywood. She arrived to find the high-ranking Greg Wilhere, who, according to a knowledgeable source, told her she had been selected for a very hush-hush mission that would entail meeting dignitaries around the world. He added that if she succeeded she would be helping to make the world a better place. Thus began a month-long preparation process that entailed her getting audited every day and telling Wilhere her innermost secrets, including every detail of her sex life. Nobody who had been in a threesome, for example, would be considered—a rule that apparently eliminated one candidate. Since Boniadi was a gung-ho Scientologist who had already attained a level of O.T. V—beyond the Wall of Fire—she embraced the church’s motto ‘Think for Yourself’ and threw herself into every task she was assigned. Wilhere, meanwhile, had frequent whispered phone conversations with the person he called ‘the project director,’ says the source. Early on, he sent Boniadi to a photo shoot, which revealed that she wore braces and that her naturally black hair had red highlights. She was told that she had to lose the braces and make her hair one color to emphasize her ethnicity. It didn’t matter that she still had a good six months to wear the braces; they had to go. So did her boyfriend.”

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Sep 26, 2012
Length: 32 minutes (8,191 words)

Cassini Royale

By the time he died, in 2006, designer Oleg Cassini had seduced the top top girls of his day, from Grace Kelly to Marilyn Monroe to Anita Ekberg. But, for all Cassini’s success with women, the battle over his estate, between his daughter Tina and his last (and secret) wife, Marianne Nestor, suggests a chilling calculation behind the dashing image.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Sep 1, 2010
Length: 37 minutes (9,426 words)

Killer@Craigslist

The “Craigslist Murder” was a crime made possible by the Internet, and the prime suspect was apprehended through online sleuthing. But the killing of Julissa Brisman allegedly by Boston University medical student Philip Markoff is still a very human mystery, with dark sexual overtones and surprising contradictions.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Oct 1, 2009
Length: 30 minutes (7,583 words)

Arianna’s Virtual Candidate

California congressman Michael Huffington is a man of no apparent convictions, except one: that he deserves to be president of the United States. But first the multimillionaire Republican is running for the Senate. Pulling the strings is his wife, socialite Arianna Stassinopoulos Huffington, the controversial author and New Age minister, who has a mysterious agenda of her own. The author lifts the curtain on their own private Oz.

Source: Vanity Fair
Published: Nov 1, 1994
Length: 34 minutes (8,668 words)