Getty American actor Dustin Hoffman and his adopted daughter Karina being watched by a cheetah at Windsor Safari Park, UK, 10th January 1971.
Eight different women have come forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against Oscar-winning actor Dustin Hoffman.
Hoffman, 80, married his first wife, Anne Byrne, in 1969. He adopted Byrne’s child from a previous marriage, Karina, after tying the knot. Together, Byrne and Hoffman also had one daughter, Jenna, born in 1970.
In 1980, the couple divorced. Hoffman went on to marry businesswoman Lisa Gottsegen Hoffman in October of that same year. Hoffman and Gottsegen have four children together: Jacob Edward (36), Rebecca Lillian (34), Max Geoffrey (33), and Alexandra “Ali” (30).
Read on to learn more about Karina, Hoffman’s adopted daughter.
1. She Was Previously Accused of Theft
Dustin Hoffman with his wife Anne and daughter Karina in New York, 1969. See more photos: http://t.co/AK0LtGwGRM http://t.co/nGI6MSNpCk
In 1998, when she was 31, Karina was accused of stealing more than 5,000 pounds from the Cambridgeshire company where she worked, according to The Free Library. Her lawyers said in court that she always felt “intimidated by her father’s wealth and fame and she was given community service and ordered to pay compensation,” according to The Guardian.
Hoffman allegedly learned about Karina’s theft in a letter from Marcella Porcas and her husband, Russell, who ran to the Cambridgeshire company. In a return letter to Marcella and Russell, Hoffman wrote, “My wife and I want to express our regret at the losses to which you refer. Naturally, we were saddened and indeed dismayed to hear of the charges against Karina. Given her marriage, the birth of her child and the new job, we thought that her life was in good order. As you can imagine, this all came as a very disheartening surprise.”
Hoffman has admitted that he did not spend enough time with Karina growing up. The Free Library reports him as saying, “My first wife was a dancer and our work would separate us for months. It was not easy to have a home life.”
2. She Was a Bridesmaid in One of Hoffman’s Accuser’s Weddings
🍁By The golden age of Hollywood🍁Dustin Hoffman and his daughter Karina🍁1969🍁 http://t.co/W5lC5YyCxt
On Thursday, Cori Thomas became one of five more women to step forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against Hoffman.
Thomas tells The Hollywood Reporter that she was 16-years-old in 1980 when the incident allegedly occurred. Thomas was a friend of Karina’s; she attended school with her at the United Nations International School.
Thomas tells Variety that the inappropriate act took place on a Sunday afternoon. She was spending the day with Dustin and Karina– they went to the Drama Bookshop, and eventually made their way to dinner. Thomas says Hoffman insisted they go back to his hotel room, even though her parents were supposed to pick her up from the restaurant. Hoffman reportedly suggested they leave a letter with the maitre d’ so her parents would know where to pick her up later.
At the hotel, Thomas says Karina left to do homework. It was then that Hoffman allegedly went to the bathroom, turned on the shower, and walked back into the room naked. “He came out of the bathroom with a towel at first wrapped around him, which he dropped… He was standing there naked. I think I almost collapsed, actually. It was the first time I had ever seen a naked man. I was mortified. I didn’t know what to do. And he milked it. He milked the fact that he was naked. He stood there. He took his time.” Thomas said Hoffman asked her to massage his feet and she did so. Eventually, the phone rang, and it was a hotel employee saying her mother was there to pick her up.
Variety reports that Thomas never told the story to Karina, even though the two remained close. Karina was a bridesmaid in Thomas’ wedding. She tells Variety, “I didn’t want to embarrass her.”
3. Actress Anne Byrne Is Her Mother
GettyUS actor Dustin Hoffman poses with his then-wife Anne Byrne, in his swimming pool Hotel, 14 May 1975, during the Cannes International Film Festival.
Anne Byrne, Karina’s mother, was Dustin Hoffman’s first wife from 1969 to 1980. The year they divorced, Hoffman married his second wife, Lisa Hoffman, and Byrne married her second husband, Ivan Kronenfield.
Byrne, an actress, played a small role in Woody Allen’s 1979 film Manhattan. She also acted in Why Would I Lie?, and A Night Full of Rain. According to her IMDB page, Byrne has not appeared in a film since 1980.
In 2012, Hoffman had an emotional experience while speaking at the British Academy’s HQ. Discussing Kramer Vs. Kramer, he said, “I was getting divorced, I’d been partying with drugs and it depleted me in every way.”
4. Birkhead Is One of Hoffman’s Six Children
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Birkhead is one of Hoffman’s six children, and the only one not to dabble in show biz.
Dustin Hoffman’s oldest son, Jake, is an actor and director who graduated from NYU Film School in 2003. Jake played Steve Madden in The Wolf of Wall Street, and Ben Newman, Adam Sandler’s son, in Click. In 2014, he directed the movie Asthma. According to IMDB, Jake’s first film credit was in 1988, as “Boy at Pancake Counter” in Rain Man.
Jenna Byrne, Hoffman’s oldest daughter, was an actress up until 2001. Her credits include Outbreak, Mad City, The Wedding Singer, Enemy Action and The Price of Air among others.
Rebecca Hoffman, the oldest child of Dustin Hoffman and Lisa Hoffman, is an actress known for her work in Hook and Le Nozze de Figaro. Alex Hoffman has just one credit listed on IMDB: “Diner Granddaughter” in Moonlight Mile. Max Hoffman, Dustin’s youngest son, is 33, and attended Brown University. He has acted in a number of films, including Asthma, On Holiday, What Goes Up and Everything Will Happen Before You Die, among others. Check out his IMDB here.
5. Artist Simon Birkhead Is Katrina’s Ex-Husband
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Karina met Simon Birkhead while working at a New York Club organizing party events in 1992. The two engaged in a whirlwind romance and Karina became pregnant six weeks later. She and Birkhead married a week after their daughter, Bryce’s, birth.
A 1998 article from The Mail on Sunday reveals that the couple’s relationship grew strained when Simon allegedly learned that Karina had traveled to Europe to “meet with a former boyfriend.” They divorced in 1997.
The Mail on Sunday reports that Hoffman refused to become involved in his daughter’s divorce. They also report Simon Birhead as saying, “I wish I had never had anything to do with the family.”