Apropos of Nothing: Woody Allen says son Ronan Farrow could be Sinatra's love child

Woody Allen comments on speculation Ronan Farrow's father is Frank Sinatra in his book. Photo / AP

Woody Allen has conceded that his son with Mia Farrow, Ronan, could in fact be Frank Sinatra's - pouring more fuel on a long-smoking fire within the complicated family.

In Apropos of Nothing, Allen's book, which itself was nearly not published after its original publisher pulled out following furious protests, Allen discusses the long-standing question.

Woody Allen comments on speculation Ronan Farrow's father is Frank Sinatra in his book. Photo / AP

"One day Mia announced she was pregnant," he wrote. "I naturally assumed it was by me and the wolfsbane had finally kicked in; and despite her suggesting [Ronan] was Frank Sinatra's child, I think he's mine, though I'll never really know.

"She may have still been sleeping with Frank, as she hinted, and may have had any number of outside affairs, for all I know. As I said, we lived apart."

Mia Farrow, 75, was married to Sinatra from 1966-68. From 1980 to 1992 she was married to Allen, 84, although the couple never lived together.

Ronan Farrow, 32, a journalist who won a Pulitzer for his work bringing down Harvey Weinstein in The New Yorker, has laughed off previous speculation about his parentage.

Journalist Ronan Farrow. Photo / AP

When, in 2013, Mia Farrow said Sinatra could be Ronan's father, noting: "We never really split up," Ronan wrote on Twitter: "Listen, we're all possibly Frank Sinatra's son."

Allen was accused by Dylan, his daughter, of sexually abusing her in 1992, but insists in the book that he never mistreated her. He vehemently attacks his ex-wife, depicting Mia Farrow as being deeply troubled and said her family was "rife with extremely ominous behaviour that swelled in the years I knew her".

He claimed Farrow was "unnaturally obsessed" with Ronan - named Satchel at birth.

"When Satchel was born, things took an even darker quantum leap," he writes. "From his birth, Mia expropriated Satchel. She took him into her bedroom, her bed, and insisted on breast-feeding him. She kept telling me she intended to do it for years."

Mia and Ronan Farrow are yet to respond to Allen's allegations.