An older Dustin Hoffman interview making the rounds online shows the actor tearing up over his regret at not having known more “interesting women” because they did not “fulfill, physically, the demands that we’re brought up to think [they] have to have in order for us to ask them out.”

Hoffman was talking about preparing for his role in the 1982 comedy “Tootsie,” directed by Sydney Pollack.

The Academy Award-winning actor’s vulnerable confession reveals the profound personal and social loss both men and women suffer at being “brainwashed,” as he says, into valuing image and appearance over substance and quality of character in themselves and others. For this experience, Hoffman says, the film was not a comedy for him.

— Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.

afi:

WAIT BEFORE YOU GO...

This year, the ground feels uncertain — facts are buried and those in power are working to keep them hidden. Now more than ever, independent journalism must go beneath the surface.

At Truthdig, we don’t just report what's happening — we investigate how and why. We follow the threads others leave behind and uncover the forces shaping our future.

Your tax-deductible donation fuels journalism that asks harder questions and digs where others won’t.

Don’t settle for surface-level coverage.

Unearth what matters. Help dig deeper.

Donate now.

SUPPORT TRUTHDIG