Dustin Hoffman says he once found himself face-to-face with the barrel of a gun after an angry husband caught the actor sleeping with his wife.
The Oscar winner, 89, recalled the terrifying incident from his youth during Monday’s episode of the “Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend” podcast. Hoffman appeared on the podcast to promote his new memoir, “Look at Me,” released on Nov. 10.
“She thought that once her husband went to sleep, that he stayed asleep. I was invited to come over after he went to sleep,” he shared. “There we are having a festival of sorts and he walked in with a gun. He pointed [it] at me and I remember, he said, ‘Get out, get out.’”
Hoffman said the tense encounter made him realize that his life was totally in the hands of the woman’s husband at that moment.
“When you have a gun pointed at you, first of all, that hole is much bigger than the actual hole,” he continued. “You realize how, any second, any second he’s going to pull that trigger. His finger is on the trigger and you think any second he’s going to.”
Hoffman added that he thought he was going to be killed right then and there.
“You realize, ‘That’s it, that’s it, I’m gonna die, I’m gonna die, the next second, the next second, the next second.’ And you’d do anything, you will do anything, to avoid getting killed.”
Hoffman didn’t specify how old he was during the incident and didn’t identify the man or his wife. Hoffman has been married to businesswoman Lisa Hoffman since 1980. He was previously married to actress Anne Byrne from 1969 to 1980.
Podcast host Conan O’Brien asked how Hoffman managed to escape the clash unscathed.
“You jumped out the window? You ran away? Continued the festival?” O’Brien quipped. “Sir, could you come back in five minutes … I need five minutes. Make it seven minutes.”
Watch Hoffman’s appearance on the “Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend” podcast below.