‘Yellowstone’ actor Q’Orianka Kilcher charged with disability payment fraud
Global News
Q'Orianka Kilcher was charged with two felony counts of workers' compensation insurance fraud for collecting nearly US$97,000 in disability benefits.
Actor Q’Orianka Kilcher, who featured on the TV show Yellowstone and is best known for portraying Pocahontas in the 2005 film The New World, has been charged with illegally collecting nearly US$97,000 (about $130,000) in disability benefits.
Kilcher, 32, of North Hollywood is charged with two felony counts of workers’ compensation insurance fraud, according to a Monday press release from the California Department of Insurance (CDI).
In October 2018, Kilcher allegedly injured her neck and right shoulder while working on the set of the 2019 film Dora and the Lost City of Gold.
After consulting a doctor a few times that year, Kilcher stopped treatment. A year later, in October 2019, Kilcher reached out to the insurance company handling her claim and said she needed further medical help, according to the press release. The CDI says she told a doctor that she had severe neck pain and could not accept work because of the severity of her injury.
“Based on Kilcher’s statements to the doctor, she began receiving temporary total disability benefits,” the press release reads.
Between 2019 and 2021, Kilcher received $96,838 in temporary disability benefits.
The CDI says an investigation into Kilcher’s claim, however, revealed that during the time of her purported disability she worked as an actress on Yellowstone, where she portrayed Angela Blue Thunder for four episodes alongside Kevin Costner.
Her stint on the set of Yellowstone ran from July 2019 to October 2019, despite her telling her doctor that she had been unable to work for a year.