Richard Dreyfuss is not on speaking terms with his children, according to eldest son.
In since-deleted tweets last week, Ben Dreyfuss confirmed his estrangement from the “Jaws” star while claiming the 78-year-old has “no money” to pass on to himself and his siblings, Harry and Emily.
Ben, 39, wrote, “If he did [have money], we wouldn’t get it since we’ve been estranged ever since some complicated family drama to do with MeToo.”
He explained, per USA Today, that when he tweeted support — from Richard’s account — for Harry’s 2017 claim that Kevin Spacey groped him at age 18, the social media upload “prompted someone to MeToo” Richard.
Ben wrote that the Oscar winner blamed him for writer Jessica Teich accusing Richard of exposing himself — a claim he “empathically” denied — which led to “years of acrimony” in the family.
On Monday, Ben released his and Richard’s alleged final email exchange via Substack.
“It’s long and pathetic, and he comes off worse than I do, but I’m not exactly covered in glory either,” Ben admitted of the January 2024 back-and-forth.
In the heated conversation, the duo discussed a contentious family dinner in 2022 during which Ben spoke about being called a nepo baby.
“I didn’t explain any of this well, and I didn’t even finish the thought before you and Emily started to speak, and we all started to scream at each other about a completely separate tangent over who is to blame for what,” Ben remembered, admitting to calling his father a homophobic slur at the time.
He claimed to have been “trying to make amends” for more than a year.
Richard allegedly replied in an all-caps rant, reading, “AT LEAST KEEP THIS ONE LETTER. IT’LL BE THE LAST ONE UNLESS YOU STOP BEING A COWARD. OR START BEING BETTER THAN YOUR BROTHER OR SISTER.”
The actor concluded, “AS I TOLD YOU, TO START WRITING ME WITHOUT ANY ATTEMPT TO EXPLAIN ALL THE THINGS THAT YOU SAID ON THE LAST NIGHT AT THE RESTAURANT. UNTIL YOU ALL WROTE SOMETHING ADDRESSING THE LIES, DISTORTIONS, THAT KEPT A SET OF DIFFERENT FEELINGS, VALUES, KEPT THEM HIDDEN FROM ME, YOU WOULD NOT BE HEARING FROM ME.”
Ben told readers, “I love my father. I have always loved him. I think he’s better than this email. But it’s been two years, and this appears to be the last email I’m ever going to get from him, so f–k it.”
Emily subsequently tweeted that she is “relieved” their family drama is “out in the open now.”
She wrote, “Ever since we became estranged from our dad, it’s been nearly impossible for me to write. For the first time, the thing most on my mind was something I couldn’t talk about. Ben and I have different experiences of this sadness.”
Richard’s rep did not immediately respond to Page Six’s request for comment.
Last year Richard made headlines for making transphobic and misogynistic remarks at a “Jaws” event — and Ben seemingly weighed in via X.
“Wow, just looked at my phone and learned about the disgusting outrageous behavior of one of my relatives,” he tweeted in May 2024.
“Well, now you know why I refused to give him the password to his own twitter account for a decade lol,” Ben added. “This will be my only statement on the matter. Thank you.”
He later insisted the tweet was about Emily getting an Android phone.
“My dad and I disagree about lots of stuff,” Ben wrote. “But it’s a free country. People are allowed to have different opinions about stuff.”
