A Yellowstone actress has been charged with two felony counts of workers’ compensation insurance fraud, after working on the show despite telling her doctor she was too injured to work.
Q’Orianka Kilcher was acting in the movie “Dora and the Lost City of Gold” in 2018 when she injured her neck and shoulder. Her attorney, Michael Becker, said in a statement that Kilcher was a passenger in a production vehicle when the injury occurred.
A statement issued by the California Department of Insurance revealed that the actress visited her doctor “a few times” that year, but discontinued treatment. However, a year later Kilcher contacted the insurance company handling her claim and told them that she needed treatment. She told her doctor that she had turned down offers to work due to the severe pain she was experiencing. At that time, Kilcher began receiving temporary total disability benefits.
An investigation by the California Department of Insurance found Kilcher had worked as an actress on Yellowstone from July 2019 to October 2019, despite telling her doctor that she had been unable to work for a year due to her injuries. Records show that she returned to the doctor and began receiving disability benefits five days after last working on the show.
From October 14, 2019, through September 9, 2021, Kilcher received $96,838 in disability benefits.
The 32-year-old actress turned herself in and was arraigned on May 27, 2022. Kilcher’s attorney appeared in court today (July 11) on her behalf and her next scheduled court date is August 7, 2022.
“Third-party doctors verified her injury and entitlement to benefits. Ms. Kilcher was at all times candid with her doctors and treatment providers…and she never intentionally accepted benefits that she did not believe she was entitled to,” Becker said, adding that Kilcher will “vigorously defend herself and asks that she be afforded the presumption of innocence both in and outside the courthouse.”
See Q’Orianka Kilcher as Angela Blue Thunder in Yellowstone in the video below.