The Moment
Oscar winner Richard Dreyfuss is, by his eldest son’s account, not speaking to his kids – and the whole painful saga is now playing out online.
In a series of since-deleted posts earlier in November, 39-year-old Ben Dreyfuss said he and his famous dad are estranged and claimed the 78-year-old actor has “no money.” According to entertainment coverage that captured the tweets before they disappeared, Ben wrote that even if his father did have money, the children “wouldn’t get it” because of a long-running family rift.
Ben later took things several steps further. In a Substack essay published this week, he shared what he says is their final email exchange from January 2024 – and warned readers up front that it’s “long and pathetic” and doesn’t make either of them look great.
In the emails, as quoted by Ben, Richard allegedly responds to his son in an all-caps message: “AT LEAST KEEP THIS ONE LETTER. IT’LL BE THE LAST ONE UNLESS YOU STOP BEING A COWARD.” He also reportedly accuses his children of hiding their “feelings” and “values” from him and says they won’t be hearing from him again until they address what he calls “lies” and “distortions” from a blowup at a past family dinner.
Ben writes that he’s been trying to make amends for more than a year, that he still loves his father, and that this email appears to be the last one he’ll ever receive – so, in his words, “f-k it,” he’s sharing it.
His sister Emily, who has mostly stayed out of the spotlight, then chimed in on X (formerly Twitter) to say she’s “relieved” their family drama is out in the open. A representative for Richard has not publicly responded to the latest round of claims.
The Take
There’s no delicate way to say this: publishing your estranged dad’s all-caps email to thousands of strangers is the emotional equivalent of putting your family group chat on a highway billboard.
I’m not saying Ben is wrong to feel hurt. The emails, as he presents them, sound cold, defensive, and honestly heartbreaking – especially if this really is the last thing he’s ever heard from his father. There’s a familiar sting here for anyone who’s walked through estrangement with a parent: that mix of anger, grief, and “I still love you” that never quite untangles.
But the details he’s tying it to are messy. Ben says the rupture goes back to MeToo-era fallout. Years ago, his brother Harry publicly accused Kevin Spacey of groping him at 18. Ben says he helped tweet support for that claim from Richard’s account, and that this, in turn, “prompted someone to MeToo” his father – writer Jessica Teich, who previously alleged that Richard exposed himself to her, an accusation he emphatically denied at the time.
According to Ben’s telling, Richard blamed him for that chain reaction, and the family’s been stuck in a loop of resentment ever since. Add in a 2022 blowup over Ben being called a “nepo baby,” his own admission that he hurled a homophobic slur at his dad during the argument, and Richard’s more recent, widely criticized comments about gender and women at a “Jaws” event, and you’ve got years of political, generational, and personal tension all stewing together.
Where it gets extra dicey is the money talk. Saying your 78-year-old father has “no money” is a loaded statement when that father is a Hollywood legend whose entire public image is built on classic-blockbuster success. It taps right into our favorite American fantasy: that every big movie star is sitting on a Scrooge McDuck vault. Ben doesn’t provide documents, bank statements, or anything close – it reads more like his impression of the situation and his way of warning people not to assume there’s a pot of gold at the end of the “famous dad” rainbow.
To me, this story isn’t really about a bank account. It’s about control. Richard, in the alleged emails, seems desperate to control the narrative of what happened at that family dinner and how his kids see him. Ben, in going public, is reclaiming his version of the story – and maybe a little bit of the power he lost as the “nepo baby” son of a star.
The truth is almost certainly more complicated than either side’s emails. But we live in a time where adult children of celebrities don’t just write tell-alls at 60; they post receipts in real time. The result? A deeply private generational war playing out like a mini-series, and none of us can quite look away.
Receipts
Here’s what’s clearly on the record versus what’s one-sided or still unconfirmed.
Richard Dreyfuss’ son claims actor has ‘no money’ as he confirms estrangement, shares final email exchange https://t.co/8pRj2Xc8Iq pic.twitter.com/uZlVM4DVFY
— Page Six (@PageSix) November 20, 2025
- Confirmed:
- Ben Dreyfuss posted, then deleted, tweets in November stating he is estranged from his father and that Richard has “no money,” as captured and quoted in entertainment coverage and screenshots.
- Ben has written a Substack essay sharing what he says is their January 2024 email exchange, calling it “long and pathetic” and acknowledging that neither of them looks good.
- In that essay, he quotes an all-caps email from Richard telling him to keep the letter because it will be the last one unless Ben changes, and accusing his children of hiding their real feelings and values.
- Ben says he has tried to make amends for more than a year and that he still loves his father.
- Emily Dreyfuss has posted that she is “relieved” their family drama is now public, signaling she supports Ben taking the story out of the shadows.
- Writer Jessica Teich previously accused Richard Dreyfuss of exposing himself and other misconduct; he publicly and emphatically denied those allegations at the time.
- Richard has, in past public appearances, made comments about gender and inclusivity at a “Jaws”-themed event that drew widespread criticism as transphobic and misogynistic.
- Unverified / One-Sided Claims:
- Ben’s assertion that Richard has “no money” – no financial records have been shared, and Richard has not publicly addressed his finances.
- The exact cause-and-effect link between Ben’s support for his brother’s claim against Kevin Spacey and the later allegation against Richard; that sequence is described from Ben’s point of view.
- Who said precisely what at the 2022 family dinner, including Ben’s admitted use of a homophobic slur, beyond Ben’s own retelling.
- Whether the January 2024 email Ben published is fully complete and in context; we only have what he chose to share.
Sources: Ben Dreyfuss’ public posts on X (formerly Twitter) and deleted-tweet screenshots reported in November 2025; Ben Dreyfuss’ Substack essay sharing his email exchange with Richard, November 2025; coverage of the Dreyfuss family dispute and Richard’s past public remarks in a major U.S. newspaper and an entertainment news site, November 2017-November 2025.
Backstory (For Casual Readers)
If you mostly remember Richard Dreyfuss as the guy from Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, here’s the quick catch-up. He’s a longtime Hollywood fixture who won an Oscar for The Goodbye Girl and later charmed a whole new wave of viewers as the music teacher in Mr. Holland’s Opus. Offscreen, he’s been outspoken – sometimes warmly so, sometimes in ways that have sparked serious backlash, especially around gender and “wokeness” in Hollywood.
Richard has three adult children: Ben, Emily, and Harry. In 2017, Harry publicly accused actor Kevin Spacey of groping him when he was 18. Around that same time, writer Jessica Teich came forward with allegations of sexual misconduct against Richard himself, which he denied, saying he had behaved inappropriately at times but had not exposed himself as alleged. Since then, the family has clearly been navigating not just normal parent-child tensions, but life in the blast radius of multiple public scandals.
What’s Next
Right now, this is mostly a one-way conversation from the kids’ side. Richard hasn’t issued a new public statement in response to Ben’s latest essay, and there’s no sign yet of lawyers, court filings, or anything more formal – just hurt feelings and a very raw family paper trail.
Things to watch: whether Richard, or his representatives, decide to answer Ben’s claims directly; whether Emily or Harry share their own versions of events; and if Ben keeps writing more about the estrangement or lets this stand as his final word.
Beyond the Dreyfuss house, this taps into a bigger shift: famous parents no longer controlling the story. Their adult children have platforms, archives of receipts, and a very low tolerance for being the character in someone else’s biography. We’re going to see more of these public estrangements, not fewer.
The uncomfortable truth? We’re only ever getting one chapter at a time, from one person’s point of view, filtered through years of anger and love. Somewhere between the all-caps emails and the carefully edited Substack posts is the actual story of a father and his kids who can’t seem to find their way back to each other.
So here’s the question: if you were in Ben’s shoes, would you ever take a rift with a parent this public, or would you keep it private no matter how hurt you felt?
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