{"id":46942,"date":"2006-01-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-01-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/woody-allen-on-learning-from-mistakes\/"},"modified":"2006-01-09T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:49:40","slug":"woody-allen-on-learning-from-mistakes","status":"publish","type":"sermon-illustrations","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/woody-allen-on-learning-from-mistakes\/","title":{"rendered":"Woody Allen on Learning from Mistakes"},"content":{"rendered":"

In 1969, Woody Allen directed his first movie, Take the Money and Run<\/em>. It was critically acclaimed, and throughout the next three decades Allen became one of the most prolific and beloved comedic filmmakers of the 20th century.<\/p>\n\n

In 1992, however, Allen's personal life trumped his work on the big screen when he admitted to having an affair with the adopted daughter of his long-time girlfriend, Mia Farrow. The girl, Soon-yi Previn, was 22 at the time. Despite a vicious custody battle with Farrow over other children, Allen and Previn continued their relationship and were married in 1997, when Allen was 62 years old.<\/p>\n\n

In a November 2005 interview with Vanity Fair<\/em>, Allen admitted that he had made some mistakes in his life: "I'm sure there are things that I might have done differently. Probably in retrospect I should have bowed out of that relationship [with Farrow] much earlier than I did."<\/p>\n\n

But Allen, who was about to turn 70 at the time of the interview, admitted that age had not brought discretion: "I've gained no wisdom, no insight, no mellowing. I would make all the same mistakes again, today."<\/p>","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":0,"template":"","tax_ctp_audience":[],"tax_ctp_authors":[],"tax_ctp_categories":[165],"tax_ctp_format":[171],"tax_ctp_illustration_types":[],"tax_ctp_multimedia":[],"tax_ctp_point_editor":[],"tax_publications":[140],"tax_ctp_tags":[3463,3572,3746,3790,3999,4236,4242,4313,5279],"tax_ctp_topics":[384,390,396],"class_list":["post-46942","sermon-illustrations","type-sermon-illustrations","status-publish","hentry","tax_publications-ct-pastors","tax_ctp_tags-avoiding-temptation","tax_ctp_tags-choice","tax_ctp_tags-decision","tax_ctp_tags-discernment","tax_ctp_tags-folly","tax_ctp_tags-indifference","tax_ctp_tags-infidelity","tax_ctp_tags-judgment","tax_ctp_tags-wisdom"],"acf":{"scripture_references":[{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null},{"first_verse":null,"add_second_verse":false,"second_verse":null}]},"yoast_head":"\nWoody Allen on Learning from Mistakes - CT Pastors<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/preaching\/sermon-illustrations\/woody-allen-on-learning-from-mistakes\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Woody Allen on Learning from Mistakes - CT Pastors\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In 1969, Woody Allen directed his first movie, Take the Money and Run. 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