Who Is Babi Christina Engelhardt? New Details About The Woman Who Had An Affair With Woody Allen When She Was 16
She claims the movie Manhattan was inspired by her.
IMDB In 1976, a 16-year-old, blonde haired, green eyed model began an eight year affair with the then 41-year-old filmmaker Woody Allen. Their illicit affair mirrors the storyline of one of Allen's most famous movies, Manhattan. Now, in the midst of the #MeToo movement, Babi Chrstine Engelhardt looks back on her affair with Woody Allen. Engelhardt said that Allen never asked how old she was, but she did tell him she was still in high school. She became physically intimate with Allen just a couple weeks later, months before she turned 17, which is the legal age of consent in New York. Who is Babi Christine Engelhardt?
1. How did they meet?
Barbara "Babi" Christine Engelhardt grew up the child of German immigrants in New Jersey. She moved to New York to try her hand at modeling. It was there she met Woody Allen one night in 1976 at the famous restaurant Elaine's. She caught his eye, so on her way back to her table from the ladies' room, she dropped a note on his table with her phone number. That note read: "Since you've signed enough autographs, here's mine."
2. Their relationship had two rules
Engelhardt said that her relationship with Allen had two rules. One: they wouldn't talk about work. Two:they could only spend time at his place. She said: "I was a pleaser, agreeable. Knowing he was a director, I didn't argue. I was coming from a place of devotion."
3. She inspired a Woody Allen film
Engelhardt believes that the plot of Allen's film Manhattan, in which 17-year-old Tracy, played by Mariel Hemingway, has sex with Allen's 42-year-old character Isaac was based on her relationship with him. She said she cried when she saw the film because she thought it made their relationship look like a fling and she thought it was something more. The film has always "reminded me why I thought he was so interesting — his wit is magnetic. It was why I liked him and why I'm still impressed with him as an artist. How he played with characters in his movies, and how he played with me."
4. Threesomes
Engelhardt claims that she went to Woody Allen's Manhattan apartment more than 100 times to have sex. About two years into their relationship, he introduced her to a group of beautiful young ladies and they began to have threesomes. She also claims to have smoked joints and had a threesome with Mia Farrow and Woody Allen.
5. No regrets
Even today, Engelhardt has no regrets about her time with Allen, even if the #MeToo era has forced her to reexamine the power dynamic of their long ago tryst. Despite hindsight, Engelhardt is unwilling to indict Allen. "What made me speak is I thought I could provide a perspective," she said. "I'm not attacking Woody. This is not 'bring down this man.' I'm talking about my love story. This made me who I am. I have no regrets."
6. All the famous men
Engelhardt has led an adventurous life as she tried to break into modeling and later acting. She jetsetted with Adnan Khashoggi, had dinner with Stephen King, and was billionaire pedophile Jeffrey Epstein's personal assistant. After her time with Allen, she became a platonic muse to Federico Fellini late in the Italian director's life. She spent years working as the hostess in the executive dining room at Paramount before landing her current job, assistant to legendary producer Bob Evans. What has made her successful with powerful men personally and professionally is what she thinks Allen liked about her in the first place: "I was pretty enough, I was smart enough, I was non confrontational, I was non-judgmental, I was discreet, and nothing shocks me."
7. She is now a psychic
Engelhardt dropped the Babi from her name and now goes by Christine Engelhardt. She is a 59-year-old divorced mother of two college-aged girls. She lives in the flats of Beverly Hills. She has written two unpublished memoirs. One is about her time with Allen, the other about her time as a platonic muse to Federico Fellini. She gives psychic readings now. It was a recent article in the Washington Post that detailed Allen's obsession with teenaged girls that made her rethink her time with him. She told The Hollywood Reporter, "It put all of the dots together. It made me realize I was part of a pattern. I'd never been privy to his mind in that way."
Amy Lamare is a Los Angeles based freelance writer covering entertainment, pop culture, beauty, fashion, fitness, technology, and the intersection of technology, business, and philanthropy. She is deeply devoted to her chocolate Labrador and an avid long distance runner. You can find her on Instagram and Facebook.