Notoriously private film director Woody Allen has spoken out about the controversy surrounding his relationship with wife Soon-Yi Previn, who is 35 years his junior.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the 80-year-old said he was “immune” to the backlash when his relationship with Previn, his ex-girlfriend Mia Farrow’s adopted daughter, first came to light in the early 1990s.

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“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,” Allen said.

At the time the news broke, many were critical of Allen for falling for his step-daughter, who was in her early 20s at the time.

Allen and Previn, now 45, married in 1997 and have since adopted two children together.

The Midnight in Paris director described Previn as “one of the great experiences of my life”.

“She had a very, very difficult upbringing in Korea … so I’ve been able to really make her life better,” Allen explained.

“I provided her with enormous opportunities, and she has sparked to them. She’s educated herself and has tons of friends and children and got a college degree and went to graduate school, and she has traveled all over with me now.

“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.”

Asked whether Previn had given him anything in return, Allen said: “Well, she’s given me a lot of pleasure.

“I adore her, and she’s given me a wonderful life. We’ve been married 20 years. And we were together for a few years before that. And she has given me the great years of my life, personally.

“She’s a great companion and a great wife. She has given me a stable and wonderful home life and great companionship.”

Allen also revealed that he did not keep in touch with Farrow, whom he dated for 12 years and made 13 movies with.

“I don’t think she lives in New York. I think she lives in Connecticut. I’m not sure. Or travels for UNICEF or something,” he said.