Hoffman ‘groped teen and asked for massage’
DUSTIN Hoffman has become the latest star to be caught up in the Hollywood sex scandal.
The film legend has apologised after he was accused of sexual harassment by a writer who said he groped her and asked for a foot massage when she was a teenage intern more than 30 years ago.
Anna Graham Hunter, now in her late forties, branded the actor a ‘predator’, saying he made crude sexual references and openly flirted with her on the set of TV film Death Of A Salesman in 1985.
She detailed his alleged behaviour in letters at the time to her sister. She still has copies of the correspondence.
Aged 17 and working as a intern, she was left in tears by Hoffman’s behaviour and on one occasion scolded him for being a ‘dirty old man’ when he groped her bottom, she said. She claimed that when she reported the harassment to a supervisor on set in New York, she was told to ‘sacrifice’ some of her values for the sake of the production.
Hoffman, now 80, released a statement apologising if he had put her in an uncomfortable position, adding that it was not ‘reflective of who I am’.
The Oscar-winning actor is among a growing list of stars to face accusations ranging from sexual harassment to rape as Hollywood faces a widening crisis in the wake of the downfall of disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Writing in the Hollywood Reporter, Miss Hunter, who is now based in Los Angeles, said: ‘At 49, I understand what Dustin Hoffman did, as it fits into the larger pattern of what women experience in Hollywood and everywhere.
‘He was a predator, I was a child, and this was sexual harassment. As to how it fits into my own pattern, I imagine I’ll be figuring that out for years to come.’
She said she had taken a job as a production assistant while still at high school in New York City.
She claimed that Hoffman’s inappropriate behaviour began on her first day when he asked her to give him a foot massage and she felt obliged to do so.
‘He was openly flirtatious, he grabbed my ass, he talked about sex to me and in front of me,’ she said. Miss Hunter also detailed an occasion when he made a crude sexual suggestion after she took
Ordeal: Anna Graham Hunter with Dustin Hoffman during filming of Death Of A Salesman his breakfast order. ‘He looked at about this business that scare me. each time, hard, and told him he me and grinned,’ she said. First of all, Dustin’s a lech. I’m was a dirty old man.’
‘His entourage burst out laugh-completely disillusioned.’ According to the magazine, ing. I left, speechless. Then I went She also claimed that when a Hoffman responded to the allegato the bathroom and cried.’ fellow production assistant asked tions, saying: ‘I have the utmost
During her first five weeks on Hoffman what he wanted for respect for women and feel terriset, in which she worked 16-hour lunch, he answered to her breasts ble that anything I might have days, she wrote letters to her sis-before she called him a ‘pig’ and done could have put her in an ter in London telling her about walked away. uncomfortable situation. her experience. She continued: ‘Today, when I ‘I am sorry. It is not reflective of
On January 31, 1985, she wrote: was walking Dustin to his limo, he who I am.’ ‘Today, I realised some things felt my ass four times. I hit him Speaking of the letters she wrote to her sister, Miss Hunter said her ‘heart aches’ for the innocent 17year-old she used to be.
‘It aches for the teenager who was so thrilled to join a movie star’s party that she gave him a foot rub even though she didn’t want to, even though she tried to protest she wasn’t good at it,’ she wrote. My heart aches for the awkward virgin with the bad hair who had only been kissed three times in her life, laughing as the man her father’s age talked about breasts and sex. I want to weep that she found this charming.
‘I want to hug her for having the guts to tell him to stop, even though her voice shook. Because she was so proud of herself.’