Costume designer Susan Bertram told The Hollywood Reporter that Knepper sexually assaulted her while filming 1992’s Gas Food Lodging. Bertram, who was 31 at the time, said that after a day of shooting in New Mexico, she visited the actor’s trailer to give him some clothes. She claims her hands were full when she reached for a clothing rack and Knepper “jumped up,” and allegedly grabbed her crotch under her dress “as hard as he could.”
Then, she says, he pushed her against a wall and told her, “I’m going to f— your brains out.” She soon managed to wriggle free. “I flew out of that trailer as fast as I could. I just kind of fell out the door and landed in the dirt on my knees,” she says.
Bertram’s then-assistant Dominique DuBois told THR she recalled the incident. “I remember Susan came in and she was visibly shaking,” DuBois said. “She told me [Robert Knepper] had forced himself on her. She was very upset, very shaken. I do remember that.”
Knepper responded to Bertram’s allegations on Instagram. “Over the past few weeks, my wife and I have discussed the pain women have experienced and the bravery they have shown in coming forward,” he said. “I am shocked and devastated to be falsely accused of violence against a woman. That’s just not who I am. To those who have reached out today with words of support and encouragement, I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
In addition to Prison Break, Knepper is known for his recent turns on Twin Peaks, iZombie, and Homeland.
Knepper has yet to return EW’s request for further comment. Read Bertram’s detailed account of the alleged incident here.
