Dustin Hoffman’s Accusers Speak Out, Recall Harassment: ‘I Was Told to Suck It Up’

Three of Dustin Hoffman‘s sexual abuse accusers gave an interview with NBC Nightly News on Monday, where they recalled several unsettling claims from their past experiences with the noted actor.

Cori Thomas described an incident from 1980 where she was invited to spend the day with Hoffman because she was friends with his daughter. Thomas said that while she waited for her parents to pick her up from Hoffman’s hotel room, the actor disrobed and asked the teenager to give him a foot massage.

“I just froze. I’d never seen a man naked in my life at this point,” said Thomas. “I was 16 so I did [rub his feet] and he was being suggestive saying, ‘You know I’m naked.'”

Anna Graham Hunter, a film intern who once worked with Hoffman, spoke about how the actor once made her cry after groping and making sexually-explicit comments about her while they worked together. Kathryn Rossetter, who co-starred with Hoffman in Death of a Salesman, called the actor a “bully” as she recounted how her work with him was a “horrific, demoralizing and abusive experience.” Rossetter’s recollection got particularly explicit when she described how Hoffman abused her backstage during live performances.

“I felt his hand go up my thigh. One day he actually tried to penetrate me with his fingers…I was told to suck it up. He was the most famous actor in the world. He was at the top of his career. I was a nobody. Nobody was going to believe me.”

When Cynthia McFadden asked Rossetter about those who might feel sorry for Hoffman, she responded, “I don’t think we should feel sorry for him, he’s fine…He brings so much humanity to his work but doesn’t quite [bring it] to his life.”

Watch above, via NBC.

[Image via screengrab]

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