Meryl Streep calls out Dustin Hoffman for 'Kramer vs Kramer' slap from 40 years ago

The Academy Award-winning actress speaks out for the first time about what happened on set

Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman in 'Kramer vs. Kramer'. Credit: Columbia Pictures.

Meryl Streep has finally spoken about the sexual harassment allegations against her 1979 Kramer vs Kramer co-star Dustin Hoffman.

When claims against Hoffman first surfaced regarding his inappropriate behaviour, an interview with Streep featured in a 1979 issue of TIME Magazine resurfaced regarding a particularly disturbing instance.

In it, she said the actor - now 80 - had grabbed Streep's breast in their first meeting.

A representative for Streep revealed that Hoffman had apologised for his actions and Streep had accepted.

However that apparently wasn't the only time Hoffman had overstepped:

In an interview with The New York Times about the #MeToo movement and her new film with Tom Hanks, The Post, Streep revealed Hoffman actually slapped her in their first scene together.

"That was when we were making Kramer vs Kramer," Streep said of the experience. "This is tricky because when you’re an actor, you’re in a scene, you have to feel free. I’m sure that I have inadvertently hurt people in physical scenes. But there’s a certain amount of forgiveness in that."

It was unsettling for Streep though.

She continued, "But this was my first movie, and it was my first take in my first movie, and he just slapped me. And you see it in the movie. It was overstepping. But I think those things are being corrected in this moment. And they’re not politically corrected; they’re fixed. They will be fixed, because people won’t accept it anymore. So that’s a good thing."

The Post actress then goes on to discuss her experiences with sexual harassment beyond what happened with Hoffman.

“Back in the day, when everybody was doing cocaine, there was a lot of behaviour that was inexcusable," Streep said of her days as a young actress. "But now that people are older, and more sober, there has to be forgiveness, and that’s the way I feel about it."

Streep feels that "if the world is going to go on, we have to find out a way to work together" and thinks things will be better when men see women as equals.