A second woman has accused Dustin Hoffman of sexual harassment

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A second woman has accused Dustin Hoffman of sexual harassment

Dustin Hoffman

Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

Dustin Hoffman.

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  • Producer Wendy Riss Gatsiounis said that Dustin Hoffman sexually harassed her during a meeting she had with him in 1991.
  • Riss Gatsiounis' claim follows a sexual harassment allegation made against Hoffman by writer Anna Graham Hunter on Wednesday.


A second woman has come forward to accuse actor Dustin Hoffman of sexual harassment.

"Genius" producer Wendy Riss Gatsiounis said that Hoffman sexually harassed her during a meeting she had with him in 1991, in an interview with Variety Wednesday.

Riss Gatsiounis met with Hoffman and screenwriter Murray Schisgal to discuss her new play "A Darker Purpose," and the possibility of turning it into a movie. The producer said that during her first meeting with them, Schisgal asked her if she had a boyfriend or a husband.

According to Riss Gatsiounis, Hoffman told Schisgal to "shut up" and said, "Don't you know you can't talk to women that way anymore? Times are changing."

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Conversation then switched back to discussing Riss Gatsiounis' play. Hoffman and Schisgal asked her if she would be willing to rework her pitch and her play, to which Riss Gatsiounis agreed - and proceeded to spend three weeks on her rewrite.

Riss Gatsiounis then met with Hoffman and Schisgal a second time, and said Hoffman was "really different" this time.

According to Riss Gatsiounis, Hoffman began their meeting by asking her if she had "ever been intimate with a man over 40."

Riss Gatsiounis was in her 20s at the time, and Hoffman was 53.

"I'll never forget - he moves back, he opens his arms, and he says, 'It would be a whole new body to explore,'" Riss Gatsiounis said. "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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According to the producer, Schisgal then encouraged her to go off with Hoffman, but Riss Gatsiounis declined Hoffman's advances and the actor left the meeting.

"And then Murray Schisgal says, 'Look, we're not really interested in your play, because it's too film noir-ish.' And that was it," Riss Gatsiounis said.

Riss Gatsiounis said she called her agent Mary Meagher after her meeting with Hoffman and Schisgal, and Meagher told her it wasn't anything she had done, and that she had heard rumors "about him for years."

In a statement to Variety, Schisgal said he had "no recollection of this meeting or of any of the behavior or actions described."

Riss Gatsiounis' claim follows a sexual harassment allegation against Hoffman made by writer Anna Graham Hunter Wednesday. In a guest column for The Hollywood Reporter, Hunter said Hoffman sexually harassed her when she was 17 years old, while interning as a production assistant on the set of "Death of a Salesman" in 1985.

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According to Hunter, Hoffman - who starred in the film - would speak openly about sex in front of her, and inappropriately touched her on one occasion.

Hunter recalled asking for Hoffman's breakfast order one morning, to which the actor allegedly responded, "I'll have a hard-boiled egg … and a soft-boiled clitoris."

According to Hunter, Hoffman also felt her "ass four times" while she walked him to his limousine on one occasion.

In a statement to The Hollywood Reporter, Hoffman said: "I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation. I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am."

Dustin Hoffman did not immediately respond to Business Insider's request for comment.

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