Woody Allen, Mia Farrow's son named Rhodes scholar

Film director Woody Allen reacts during a press conference in New York June 7, after estranged lover actress Mia Farrow was awarded custody of their three children.

(Reuters) - Ronan Farrow, the son of Woody Allen and Mia Farrow who works as a State Department special adviser on global youth issues, has been named a Rhodes Scholar.

Farrow, 23, a Yale Law School graduate and Washington resident, is one of 32 Rhodes Scholars representing the United States announced by the Rhodes Trust at the weekend.

The former child prodigy entered Bard College at age 11, and was accepted by Yale Law at 16. He works as Special Advisor for Global Youth Issues for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. He is also a political commentator on U.S. television and has written about human rights issues for newspapers.

Farrow was named Satchel Ronan O'Sullivan Farrow at birth, and became the subject of a high-profile custody suit between his parents after Allen's relationship with Mia Farrow's adopted daughter, Soon-Yi, was revealed.

Allen and Farrow separated in 1992 and Farrow won custody.

Rhodes Scholarships, created in 1902, provide all expenses for two or three years of study at the University of Oxford in England. The latest scholars will enter in October 2012.

(Reporting by Chris Michaud; Editing by Patricia Reaney)