A veteran Hollywood costume designer is accusing “Prison Break” star Robert Knepper of sexual assaulting her during filming for 1992’s “Gas Food Lodging.”
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Susan Bertram said she was 31 when she was assaulted by the actor in 1991. She said that after a day of shooting near Deming, New Mexico, Bertram went to Knepper’s trailer to drop off some clothes. When she leaned over to reach a rack on a far wall, she said Knepper “jumped up,” reached under her dress and grabbed her crotch “as hard as he could.”
She added that Knepper shoved her against the wall and said “I’m going to f— your brains out.” Bertram said she managed to push him off telling the actor, “I’m working, I’m working!”
“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 said, adding that she ran to the bathroom and locked the door.
When she reached under her dress, the costume designer said she saw the crotch of her tights had been ripped and she was bleeding. She said that Knepper had ripped at her vulva during the incident and a piece of her flesh and some pubic hair had been ripped out.
“I just sat there and cried for a while. My dress was torn, I was dirty,” she said. “I just sat there and got myself together and went back to the wardrobe trailer.”
Her then-assistant, Dominique DuBois, corroborated her account, telling THR, “I remember Susan came in and she was visibly shaking. She told me [Robert Knepper] had forced himself on her. She was very upset, very shaken. I do remember that.”
Bertram said she felt compelled to tell her story after the October 2016 release of the “Access Hollywood” tape, in which Donald Trump had a lewd conversation with Billy Bush about women.
“I kind of buried it for a long time until Trump came out with his ‘Grab ’em by the p—-‘ thing,” she said. “When that happened, I started reeling. People think that’s a joke, but that really happened to me.”
A spokesperson for Knepper has not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment. Knepper’s additional credits include “Hitman” and “Transporter 3.”