Dustin Hoffman is now on the list of Hollywood stars accused of sexual misconduct after a former production assistant who worked for him on “Death of a Salesman” accused him of sexually harassing her when she was just 17.
Anna Graham Hunter came forward with her side of the story from the 1985 TV movie project in a guest column published by The Hollywood Reporter on Wednesday.
Hunter begins her story by blatantly stating her claim that “Dustin Hoffman sexually harassed me when I was 17,” before detailing her experience with the Hollywood star through several letters she wrote to her sister at the time.
“He was openly flirtatious, he grabbed my ass, he talked about sex to me and in front of me,” Hunter claims. “One morning I went to his dressing room to take his breakfast order; he looked at me and grinned, taking his time. Then he said, ‘I’ll have a hard-boiled egg … and a soft-boiled clitoris.’ His entourage burst out laughing. I left, speechless. Then I went to the bathroom and cried,” referencing a handful of her allegations right from the start.
REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
Hunter was a senior in high school in New York City, interning as a production assistant when the alleged harassment occurred and admitted that she “loved the attention from Dustin Hoffman,” until she didn’t.
“Today, when I was walking Dustin to his limo, he felt my ass four times. I hit him each time, hard, and told him he was a dirty old man. He took off his hat and pointed to his head (shaved for the part) and said, ‘No, I’m a dirty young man, I have a full head of hair,’ Hunter wrote in one of her letters.
“Today this business got scarier. Or at least less appealing,” Hunter wrote in another letter. “This morning when I asked Dustin what he wanted for breakfast, he said something that beat even his lows. It was worse than anything anyone has ever said to me on the street. It was so gross I couldn’t say anything,” she wrote, likely referencing Hoffman’s clitoris comment. ” I just turned around and walked out.”
At one point Hoffman found out that he was making Hunter uncomfortable, so he apologized and treated her so nice that it shocked the teenage intern. Now Hunter has a variety of reactions when reading her letters and thinking about her time working on “Death of a Salesman,” and even admits that she somehow found Hoffman charming through it all.
“Mostly though, my heart aches. 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,” she says. “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.”
“He was a predator, I was a child, and this was sexual harassment,” she claims, despite her feelings on the numerous encounters.
REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
Hoffman didn’t deny any of the accusations in a statement to THR, but apologized for causing Hunter any discomfort with his actions.
“I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation,” Hoffman said. “I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am.”