“Yellowstone” actress Q’orianka Kilcher has been accused of illegally collecting nearly $97,000 in disability benefits while working on the TV show, authorities announced Monday. Kilcher, 32, of North Hollywood, is charged with two felony counts of workers’ compensation insurance fraud, according to a statement from the California Department of Insurance. Kilcher in 2020 played Angela Blue Thunder for four episodes of the Paramount Network Western starring Kevin Costner. She also played Pocahontas in the 2005 film “The New World” and was in the 2019 film “Dora and the Lost City of Gold.” While working on “Dora” in October 2018, Kilcher reportedly injured her neck and right shoulder, the insurance department said. A year later, Kilcher told a doctor handling the insurance claim that she had been offered a job but could not take it because of severe neck pain from her injury, according to a statement from the insurance department. From 2019 to 2021, Kilcher received $96,838 in temporary disability benefits. But an investigation later found Kilcher had worked at Yellowstone for several months in 2019 during the time she claimed to be disabled, the department said. “According to records, she returned to the doctor and began receiving disability benefits five days after her last work on the show,” the statement said. Kilcher surrendered and was arraigned on the charges in May, the statement said. In a statement her attorney, Michael Becker, said Kilcher was a passenger in a production vehicle when she was injured. “Third party doctors verified her injury and entitlement to benefits. Ms. Kilcher was at all times honest with her doctors and treatment providers…and never knowingly accepted benefits she did not believe she was entitled to,” Becker said. Kilcher “will vigorously defend herself and seek the presumption of innocence both in and out of court,” Becker said.
