But after six years of gawking at their lovey-dovey strolls down the streets of Manhattan, we, as a public, just might be ready to accept the latest news. Sixty-two-year-old Oscar-winning filmmaker Woody Allen married Soon-Yi Previn, the 27-year-old adopted daughter of old flame Mia Farrow, Tuesday in a city hall ceremony in Venice, Italy.
"I married them at 5 p.m. yesterday," Venice Mayor Massimo Cacciari told Reuters News Agency, once and for all confirming the hush-hush nuptials.
The ceremony was dress-casual, Cacciari said, adding that Previn "wore her hair down with no special hairdo." The newlyweds were presented with a glass vase by city hall officials.
Among the select few invited to the top-secret affair were close friends, family members and a reporter for the New York Daily News, who broke the story early Wednesday stateside time.
Allen's spokeswoman issued this sideways, not-quite confirmation of the deed: "Six years ago, Woody and Soon-Yi decided that one day they would come back to Venice and get married...They have weathered a lot together, and have always been very much in love."
Chased down by Italian state TV on the streets of the Old World romantic city, Allen, who seemed to lay himself bare in his latest film, the just-released Deconstructing Harry, offered no juicy details: "I have nothing much to say."
This is the first marriage for Previn; the third marriage Allen, his first since he split from No. 2, Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman actress Louise Lasser, in 1970. Among the women who previously failed to get the Woodman to the altar: Diane Keaton and Mia Farrow.
Woody first met Soon-Yi when she was eight years old. She was the adopted daughter of Farrow and conductor Andre Previn; he was the longtime boyfriend of Farrow.
Then in 1992, a bombshell: New York's favorite couple, Woody and Mia, were a sham--their love match was kaput, and the new fun twosome was Woody...and Soon-Yi?!
Farrow has oft-recounted how she found out about her man and her daughter: She was in Woody's apartment. She found Polaroid pictures in Woody's bedroom. She saw a naked Soon-Yi featured in the pics. Later, by one account, Farrow chewed out Allen and allegedly broke a chair over Previn's head.
Farrow subsequently accused Allen of abusing their jointly adopted daughter, Dylan. Last year, a court barred Allen from seeing Dylan and allowed him limited contact with their birth son, Satchel. (Both children have had their given names changed by Farrow.)
On Wednesday, the woman scorned was keeping mum on news of the Allen-Previn wedding.
Said her spokesman: "I know it happened. But I have no comment from Mia."
(UPDATED at 7:45 am on 12/24/97)