Dustin Hoffman Accused of Sexually Assaulting Two More Women and Exposing Himself to Teen

The actor's lawyer calls the claims "defamatory falsehoods."

Dustin Hoffman
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NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 27: Dustin Hoffman speaks onstage during IFP's 27th Annual Gotham Independent Film Awards at Cipriani Wall Street on November 27, 2017 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/FilmMagic)

Dustin Hoffman

Three more women have come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against Dustin Hoffman.

In an exclusive report by Variety, Cori Thomas described an incident in 1980 when the actor allegedly exposed himself to her when she was 16 years old. Thomas was a high school classmate of Hoffman’s daughter Karina when she met him in 1980.

Thomas said that in the hours leading up to the incident, she, Karina, and Hoffman spent the afternoon in Manhattan going to a bookstore, eating at a restaurant, and eventually touring an apartment that the actor was renovating.

"This was at first one of the greatest days of my life," Thomas recalled. "One of my idols was spending time with me and talking with me respectfully."

Shortly after the three arrived at the apartment, the then-teenager found herself all alone with Hoffman as she waited for her parents to pick her up.

"Either Karina or Dustin suggested that [Karina] should go home" to Hoffman and Anne Byrne’s house nearby, Thomas said, "because it was a school night and she had homework. So she left, and I was left in the hotel room with him alone."

After Karina left, Thomas said the Oscar winner went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Several minutes later, he returned wearing only a towel around his waist, eventually dropping it right in front of her.

"He was standing there naked. 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," she said. "And he milked it. He milked the fact that he was naked. He stood there. He took his time."

Hoffman eventually put a robe on and asked the teen to rub his feet.

"I didn’t know that I could say no, so I did it. And he kept telling me, ‘I’m naked. Do you want to see?’" Thomas recalled. "What saved me was that the phone rang, and it was my mother downstairs to pick me up. So I left."

Thomas said she never told anyone about the incident until seven years after it occurred.

Another woman, Melissa Kester, claimed Hoffman sexually assaulted her during the making of the 1987 film Ishtar. Kester said her then-boyfriend was working on music for the movie, and had interacted with Hoffman several times in the studio. In one instance, Kester claims Hoffman grabbed her in the recording booth and then stuck his fingers inside of her, unbeknownst to her boyfriend.

"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,” Kester said. After 20 or so seconds, Hoffman pulled his hands out of her pants.

"Then I just ran out of there, and I sat in the bathroom crying. I thought, ‘Oh my God.’ I felt like I’d been raped. There was no warning. I didn’t know he would do that."

Kester said she never told her boyfriend about the alleged incident. She did, however, confide in a friend, who confirmed the account to Variety.

The third accuser, who asked to remain anonymous, alleges Hoffman also assaulted her during the making of Ishtar. The woman said the incident occurred in the back of a station wagon following a film wrap party. She claims the vehicle was packed with people, so she and Hoffman rode in the back. Shortly after the car began moving, Hoffman allegedly put his hand up her skirt. She was 22 at the time.

"I didn’t know what to do. He’s smiling at me. I was frozen. I was outside of my body," she explained. "There were people there. What are they going to think of me, that I’m a whore, if a say something? What would I say?"

After the car stopped to drop her off, Hoffman allegedly gave the woman $20 and instructed her to meet him at his residence. Again, she said she didn’t know what to do, so she agreed. The woman hailed a cab and met Hoffman at his place, where they had sexual intercourse.

The woman said the incident in the station wagon was nonconsensual. When asked of the encounter at Hoffman’s home was also nonconsensual, she replied, "I don’t know."

Hoffman’s team has denied these claims. In a letter to Variety, his attorney Mark A. Neubauer called the allegations "defamatory falsehoods."

You can read the full accounts at the publication’s website.

Prior to Variety’s exclusive report, three other women— Anna Graham Hunter, Wendy Riss Gatsiounis, and Kathryn Rossetter—have accused Hoffman of sexual misconduct. 

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