Jessica Walter is opening up about her experience working with Jeffrey Tambor on the set of Arrested Development and how she was verbally abused by him.
The actress plays Tambor‘s ex-wife on the series, which is returning for a fifth season on Netflix. In an interview with The New York Times, the cast was asked about the sexual harassment allegations made against Tambor on the set of Transparent.
“Let me just say one thing that I just realized in this conversation. I have to let go of being angry at him. He never crossed the line on our show, with any, you know, sexual whatever. Verbally, yes, he harassed me, but he did apologize. I have to let it go,” Jessica said through tears. She added, “In… almost 60 years of working, I’ve never had anybody yell at me like that on a set. And it’s hard to deal with, but I’m over it now.”
While Jason Bateman and Tony Hale both defended Tambor during the interview, saying his behavior was “part of his process” and “we all have our moments,” Jessica said, “Not like that. That was bad.”
Jessica also said she has no reservations about working with Tambor in the future. She says, “I’ve just given it up…I don’t want to walk around with anger. I respect him as an actor. We’ve known each other for years and years and years…Of course, I would work with him again in a heartbeat.”
