Dustin Hoffman Says He Supported #MeToo as a ‘Very Good Thing,’ but Was in ‘Shock’ by His Own Sexual Harassment Allegations

Dustin Hoffman was a supporter of the #MeToo movement despite being in “shock” when his own sexual harassment allegations came through.In the actor’s new memoir “Look at Me,” Hoffman wrote about the entire experience in 2017. The #MeToo movement was just kicking off and he was in complete support of people calling out predators in Hollywood. But when it happened to him he was shocked. “When a reckoning started making its way around the internet and tearing through Hollywood, I thought it was a very good thing,” Hoffman wrote. “I knew by then that plenty of women had put up with way too much for way too long in my industry. Not for a second did I worry that anything negative would be said about me, because the idea of taking something from someone sexually that they didn’t want to give … it’s just not something I’ve ever done. Or been tempted to do.” Hoffman explained that his “entire life changed” when #MeToo allegations came out against him from eight women. They alleged “The Graduate” actor of multiple instances of sexual assault – from indecent exposure and lewd comments to forced oral sex. His memoir went on saying that he had a real battle with how he could defend himself while also supporting the cause. “I was sort of bewildered by how to defend myself … or if I should even try,” Hoffman added. “I didn’t want to be fighting against something that I thought was important. I didn’t want to be on the wrong side of my own values. The only problem was that things were being said about me that just weren’t true. I’m sure it’s true that in my life, especially forty years ago, I made some women uncomfortable. … But ‘uncomfortable’ is a subjective emotional state. What is crass and offensive to one person, another individual might find hilarious.” When the news first broke about Hoffman’s allegations in 2017, the actor issued a statement of his own. It was roundly torched for being conditional rather than an outright apology. “I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation,” the statement at the time read. “I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am.” In the memoir, Hoffman explained that he continued to mull over his past actions on set and reckon with whether or not things he did could be perceived as uncomfortable by women he worked with – especially when he added that he still has love for a “dirty joke.” “If I were a woman, would bawdy jokes between takes seem threatening instead of fun to me? Would I have a totally different sense of humor? This is something I’ve thought about a lot,” Hoffman wrote. “And honestly? My guess is probably not. I’ve spent my life analyzing character, human behavior and I don’t think women are inherently any more wholesome than men are.” Hoffman’s memoir releases on Nov. 10.