Alex Borstein Recalls How Dustin Hoffman 'Lost His S---' When She Jokingly Called Herself 'Ugly': 'You're Beautiful!'
"He said, 'Don’t you do that! Stop that! Don’t you do that! You are not ugly!" the actress recalled
Araya Doheny/FilmMagic; Mireya Acierto/Getty
Alex Borstein (left) and Dustin HoffmanAlex Borstein says Dustin Hoffman wasn't cool with her self-deprecating jokes.
While speaking at Entertainment Weekly's Bold School panel at San Diego Comic-Con 2024, the Family Guy actress, 53, recalled a conversation she once had with Hoffman, 86, that she hasn't been able to forget.
When the moderator asked panelists about their industry pet peeves, Borstein mentioned Hollywood's "wild obsession and focus on youth and beauty." She called her answer "so boring" and issued an apology to "all the beautiful young people" listening in the crowd.
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel alum then opened up about a run-in she had with Hoffman, and how he wouldn't accept that she believed she was "ugly."
"The movie Tootsie, anybody heard of it?" Borstein asked, referencing Hoffman's 1982 film where he reinvents himself into an actress. "I once ran into Dustin Hoffman and I said to him, 'God, I'm such a fan. I love you. You showed me that I can still be an ugly woman and get on a movie.'"
Though the Kramer vs. Kramer actor "laughed at first," he became upset at the implication that Borstein wasn't beautiful.
"He said, 'Don’t you do that! Stop that! Don’t you do that! You are not ugly! You are beautiful! You are different! You are packaged differently!" she recalled. "And he lost his s---. But it really was a moment. . . and lo and behold, and I'm still here."
Borstein commented on today's societal beauty standards and remarked, "So many people are starting to look exactly the same."
"I've been so excited to see that the Emmys of late have been going to people of a certain age [who have] done their time," she added.
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Sheryl Lee Ralph, who was one of the panelists, also referenced the pay inequity for women in Hollywood as one of her industry pet peeves.
"I think we’ve got to push it, push it, push it," the Abbott Elementary star said of breaking barriers for women. "By knowing your worth and getting the kind of representation that stands with you. You can fight the good fight. We don’t always win, but we clear the road for the next young women coming behind us so she can get paid properly!"
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