Writer accuses Richard Dreyfuss of exposing himself and harassing her in the 80s 
A female writer has accused actor Richard Dreyfuss of exposing himself and sexually harassing her when she worked for him in the 1980s - claims that the actor has emphatically denied, saying the relationship was one of mutual flirting.
Jessica Teich, 58, spoke out in an interview with Vulture released late Friday, claiming that Dreyfuss behaved lewdly when she worked as a junior writer on his ABC comedy special.
The special marking the bicentennial of the US Constitution, called Funny, You Don't Look 200: A Constitutional Vaudeville, aired in October 1987.
Teich says that in the run up to its air date Dreyfuss, the now 70-year-old star of Jaws and Close Encounters Of The Third Kind, called her to his trailer at a Los Angeles film studio lot.
She was in her late 20s at the time and he was 12 years her senior.
'I remember walking up the steps into the trailer and turning towards my left,' Teich said, 'and he was at the back of the trailer, and just - his penis was out, and he sort of tried to draw me close to it.'
She said the Oscar-winning actor didn't ask for sexual favors, but that the implication was clear.
'He was hard. I remember my face being brought close to his penis,' she continued. 'I can't remember how my face got close to his penis, but I do remember that the idea was that I was going to give him a blow job. I didn't, and I left.'
'It was like an out-of-body experience. I just tried to swiftly get out of the room. I pretended it hadn't really happened,' she said. 'I kept moving because it was part of my job, and I knew he was, at the time, a very important guy, and certainly important to me. I trusted him. That's what's always so weird. I liked him.'
Dreyfuss denied the exposure allegation in a lengthy statement to Vulture.
'I emphatically deny ever 'exposing' myself to Jessica Teich, whom I have considered a friend for 30 years. I did flirt with her, and I remember trying to kiss Jessica as part of what I thought was a consensual seduction ritual that went on and on for many years. I am horrified and bewildered to discover that it wasn't consensual,' Dreyfuss wrote.
Teich, however, claims that Dreyfuss sexually harassed her throughout the two to three years that she worked for him.
'He created a very hostile work environment, where I felt sexualized, objectified, and unsafe,' she said.
Vulture spoke with a family member of Teich who said she had spoken of the exposure incident years ago, as well as a confidante who recalled Teich discussing her discomfort with Dreyfuss hitting on her.
Teich said she has no plans to sue Dreyfuss, and came forward after seeing reports that the actor's son had spoken out with allegations that Kevin Spacey had groped him in 2008, when he was 18.
Dreyfuss tweeted a statement in support of his son Harry on Saturday, saying: 'I love my son @harrydreyfuss more than I could explain with all the words in the world. And I am so incredibly proud of him right now.'
Teich said that seeing that tweet 'bothered' her, adding: 'When I read about his support for his son, which I would never question, I remember thinking, But wait a minute, this guy harassed me for months.'
Dreyfuss opened up in his statement about his regrets about the aggressive way he flirted with women in the 1970s and 80s, noting: 'The rules are changing invisibly underneath our feet. I am playing catch up. Maybe we all are.'
Teich responded to Dreyfuss' statement, saying: 'I respect that he's trying to grapple with it, and I regret that he's not being totally honest. Sadly, what I regret even more is I'll never forget the sight of his penis because I was so surprised to see it there.'
Teich is the author of a memoir, The Future Tense Of Joy, detailing unrelated sexual abuse and molestation that took place when she was 16.
