A second woman has come forward accusing Dustin Hoffman of sexual harassment, claiming he propositioned her during a business meeting in 1991.
A day after Anna Graham Hunter told The Hollywood Reporter Hoffman made unwanted sexual contact with her while she was an intern on the set of a 1985 production, “Genius” producer Wendy Riss Gatsiounis describes another incident involving the actor. She tells Variety she met with Hoffman, then 53, and screenwriter Murray Schisgal to discuss making her play “A Darker Purpose” into a feature film. Riss Gatsiounis, who was in her 20s at the time, claims Schisgal opened the meeting by asking if she was “romantically involved” with anyone, prompting Hoffman to speak up.
“Dustin Hoffman was playfully like, ‘Murray, shut up. Don’t you know you can’t talk to women that way anymore? Times are changing,'” she says.
It was during a second meeting with the duo where Riss Gatsiounis claims the two-time Oscar winner propositioned her.
“I go in, and this time it’s, like, Dustin Hoffman’s really different,” she recalls. “He says, ‘Before you start, let me ask you one question, Wendy — have you ever been intimate with a man over 40?'” she alleges. Riss Gatsiounis attempted to laugh off the comment before Hoffman continued.
“I’ll never forget — he moves back, he opens his arms, and he says, ‘It would be a whole new body to explore,'” she tells Variety. “I’m trying to go back to my pitch, and I’m trying to talk about my play. Then Dustin Hoffman gets up and he says he has to do some clothing shopping at a nearby hotel, and did I want to come along. He’s like, ‘Come on, come to this nearby hotel.'”
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She claims Schisgal, who was present for the meeting, encouraged her to take Hoffman up on his offer, urging, “You can go! It’s okay, go! Go!”
After Riss Gatsiounis repeatedly turned down Hoffman’s invite, the actor left the meeting. She then claims Murray Schisgal told her, “‘Look, we’re not really interested in your play, because it’s too film noir-ish.’ And that was it,” she adds. Riss Gatsiounis says she left the meeting “close to tears” and immediately told her agent about the incident, who told her she “had heard rumors about him for years.”
Concludes Riss Gatsiounis: “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.”
A spokesperson for Hoffman declined to comment on the alleged incident. Schisgal told Variety: “Dustin Hoffman and I took many meetings with writers and playwrights over many years. I have no recollection of this meeting or of any of the behaviour or actions described.”