Another claim of sexual harassment has been aimed at Dustin Hoffman, detailing a “horrific, demoralizing and abusive” experience on the set of a 1983 Broadway show.
The actor Kathryn Rossetter has alleged that the actor groped her repeatedly while they worked together on a production of Death of a Salesman. In an op-ed for the Hollywood Reporter, Rosseter lays out a number of alleged incidents, which also included Hoffman pulling up her clothing offstage and exposing her body to crew members.
“One night he actually started to stick his fingers inside me,” she writes. “Night after night I went home and cried … How could the same man who fought to get me the job, who complimented my work, who essentially launched my career, who gave me the benefit of his wisdom as an actor, how could he also be this sexual power abuser?”
Rosseter claims that whenever pictures were taken of the pair, he would grab her breast just before and then quickly remove it. “I tried to laugh it off, smack him and say witty, pointed things,” she writes. “I begged him nicely with tears in my eyes to please stop it. To no avail.”
She claims that after telling other people on the crew, she was ignored and also that she chose not to report him to the Actors Equity union after theater professionals warned her that it could affect her career.
“My issue isn’t what he said, it’s what he did,” she writes. “Along with the nightly sexual harassment, he eroded my confidence, my dignity. He humiliated and demeaned me. He robbed me of my joy in the experience and he left dirty fingerprints on my soul.”
It’s the latest claim against the actor following a column from the author Anna Graham Hunter, who alleged that he sexually harassed her when she was 17. Hoffman initially responded to her story, apologizing for what he had done.
“I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation,” he said. “I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am.”
His representatives have yet to provide a response to the latest claims, although his lawyers put the Hollywood Reporter in touch with others involved with the same production who didn’t witness any of the reported behavior. “It just doesn’t ring true,” said stage manager Tom Kelly. “Given my position, it’s insulting to say this kind of activity would go on to the extent of sexual violation.”
Hoffman has been reached for comment independently by the Guardian but has yet to respond.
Earlier this week, the actor was questioned about his alleged behavior by the comic John Oliver during a panel discussion. Hoffman then claimed to not know of the woman who had initially accused him of sexual harassment.
“First of all, it didn’t happen the way she reported,” he said. “I still don’t know who this woman is. I never met her. If I met her, it was in concert with other people.”
The writer Wendy Riss Gatsiounis has also alleged that Hoffman propositioned her during a business meeting in 1991. “The whole thing was just a source of torment for me. I was just this writer and he had been my hero, and it stayed with me for a long time,” she said.
