NOTE: This article contains disturbing and sexually explicit language. Please read at your own discretion.
Three women are accusing actor Dustin Hoffman of sexual misconduct, with two of them claiming he sexually assaulted them and one saying that he exposed himself to her in a hotel room when she was only a teenager.
In an article published Thursday in industry trade publication Variety, a high-school friend of Hoffman’s daughter, playwright Cori Thomas, now 54, claimed that Hoffman exposed himself after their families went on an afternoon outing together. She says she was 16-years-old at at the time.
Hoffman, now 80, was in the midst of divorcing his first wife and had been staying at a hotel near his marital home, where his daughter Karina still lived. After they finished dinner, Karina, Hoffman and Thomas were waiting at Hoffman’s hotel room for Thomas’ parents to pick her up. Thomas alleges that at some point before they got there, Karina went home to finish her homework, leaving Thomas alone with Hoffman.
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Thomas then claims that Hoffman came out of the bathroom wearing nothing but a towel, which he then “dropped.”
“He was standing there naked,” Thomas alleges. “I think I almost collapsed, actually. It was the first time I had ever seen a naked man. I was mortified. I didn’t know what to do. And he milked it. He milked the fact that he was naked. He stood there. He took his time.”
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According to Thomas, Hoffman eventually put on a robe and asked Thomas to massage his feet — which she did, and felt pressured to do — and he repeatedly asked her if she wanted to see him naked again. She says she was “saved” by her mother calling to say she had arrived.
Another woman, Melissa Kester, said she “felt like she’d been raped” after Hoffman allegedly assaulted her during a recording session for the music of the film Ishtar.
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Kester claims that Hoffman, struggling with the music, asked her to come into the recording booth with him.
“I’m standing there, and it’s kind of a small room, and he grabs me, so we’re both facing out so we’re both facing the people in the studio,” she said. “I’m thinking that it’s kind of flirtatious and funny, like he’s holding onto me, because I’m going to help him sing better.”
Kester said things turned sexual quickly, and said the people in the booth couldn’t really see the both of them.
“He literally just stuck his fingers down my pants,” Kester alleged. “He put his fingers inside me. And the thing I feel most bad about is I didn’t know what to do. I just stood there. I just froze in the situation like, ‘Oh my god, what is happening?’ It’s shocking when that happens to you.”
When the take finished, Hoffman supposedly removed his hand and “kind of laughed.”
“Then I just ran out of there, and I sat in the bathroom crying,” she said. “I thought, ‘Oh my God.’ I felt like I’d been raped. There was no warning. I didn’t know he would do that.”
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She says Hoffman tried to contact her repeatedly after the alleged incident, but she never took his calls.
A third woman, who has chosen to remain anonymous, claims that Hoffman also assaulted her while filming Ishtar. She claims that Hoffman assaulted her in the back of a car on the way home from the movie’s wrap party, and then again a second time in Hoffman’s hotel room.
Hoffman has not personally responded to the new allegations but his legal representatives said in a letter that the accusations were “defamatory falsehoods.”
Previously accused by three other women (it’s now six in total as of this writing), Hoffman issued a public apology, saying “I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation. I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am.”
Over the past several months, multiple Hollywood figures have been accused of sexual harassment and assault, including producers Harvey Weinstein and James Toback and actors Kevin Spacey and Jeffrey Tambor, among many others. Most of the accused men so far deny any allegations of non-consensual sex.
If you or someone you know is experiencing abuse or is involved in an abusive situation, please visit the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime for help. They are also reachable toll-free at 1-877-232-2610.
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