Dustin Hoffman Lives by ‘Strict’ Set of Rules to Keep Wife Lisa ‘Satisfied’: He’ll Do ‘Anything’

Dustin Hoffman‘s sordid past continues to haunt him, but he’s been whipped into shape by his smart and practical wife, Lisa Hoffman (née Gottsegen), whose side he rarely leaves.

“He’s been taken down and made to feel like dirt in the years after Hollywood ‘canceled’ him,” a source exclusively tells Closer of the 87-year-old actor, who was accused in 2017 of sexual misconduct.

“Lisa always stood by him, whether he deserved it or not,” the source explains. “His career is slowly moving again, but he’s had to live by a series of strict rules to keep her satisfied.”

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The Academy Award winner and his wife, 70, got married in October 1980, but their love story began decades earlier.

Prior to becoming an actor, Dustin studied piano as a teen and was hired at age 16 to play at the wedding of Lisa’s parents. Lisa’s mom was pregnant with her at the time.

A decade later, Dustin attended a barbecue hosted by Lisa’s family. In a July 2007 interview with the Daily Mail, Lisa explained, “Dustin was telling us jokes, playing the piano and encouraging me to dance around the living room. After we got together, my grandmother reminded me that later that day I had said, ‘I hope he waits for me because I want to marry him.'”

He reconnected with Lisa years later at her grandfather’s funeral when she was 22 and he was 38, and the rest is history.

According to Closer‘s source, “They do practically everything together. If he’s on a set, he must call in every hour, and he better be home in time for dinner. Anything she wants, he’ll do. He’ll jump hoops if that’s what she asks because the truth of it all is he has a lot of making up to do.”

The shocking allegations that surfaced in 2017, when seven women accused him of sexual assault, “nearly derailed his career,” the source explains. “He’s lost friends and respect in the community that once treated him like a lord. He doesn’t want to lose Lisa, too.”

In response to one of the allegations made against him, he said, “I have the utmost respect for women and feel terrible that anything I might have done could have put her in an uncomfortable situation. I am sorry. It is not reflective of who I am.”

After laying low for quite some time, the Megalopolis actor has “made a slow comeback and is still working, which is pretty good considering he’s 87 and still has this stigma attached to his name,” the source says.

Dustin and Lisa, who share children Jacob, Rebecca, Maxwell and Ali, will celebrate their 44th wedding anniversary on Saturday, October 12.

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In a 2017 interview with Closer, Lisa shared the secret to their longstanding marriage. “I say in Hollywood it is like dog years, so you have to multiply that by seven,” she joked about her union, adding that their affection for each other “continues to grow.”

Still, they have always had to “work hard at it,” she said. “I knew I was going to end up with Dusty, and that my life would be traveling around with him.”