‘Arrested Development': Jessica Walter Says Jeffrey Tambor Verbally Harassed Her on Set

‘Arrested Development': Jessica Walter Says Jeffrey Tambor Verbally Harassed Her on Set

Jessica Walter spoke about her own personal difficulties with “Arrested Development” co-star Jeffrey Tambor, who was recently ousted from his leading role on Amazon’s “Transparent” over sexual misconduct accusations, in an interview with the New York Times published Wednesday.

Walter — who plays Lucille Bluth opposite TV husband Tambor as George Bluth Sr. on the quirky Netflix comedy — told the Times during a sit-down with the show’s cast ahead of the Season 5 premiere that she needed to “let go of being angry at him” after incidents they had on set.

“Again, not to belittle it or excuse it or anything, but in the entertainment industry it is incredibly common to have people who are, in quotes, ‘difficult.’ … And what you learn is context,” Jason Bateman, who plays Michael Bluth, said when the topic of Tambor’s treatment of Walter came up. “And you learn about character and you learn about work habits, work ethics, and you start to understand. Because it’s a very amorphous process, this sort of [expletive] that we do, you know, making up fake life. It’s a weird thing, and it is a breeding ground for atypical behavior and certain people have certain processes.”

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“Let me just say one thing that I just realized in this conversation,” added Walter, who the Times described as speaking “through tears.” “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. [Turns to Tambor.] And I have to give you a chance to, you know, for us to be friends again.”

Tambor responded, “Absolutely.”

“But it’s hard because honestly — Jason says this happens all the time,” Walter added. “In like 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. I just let it go right here, for The New York Times.”

Also Read: 'Arrested Development' Season 5 Will Be Split Into 2 Parts

Other “Arrested Development” cast members weighed in on Tambor’s situation during the interview, including Tony Hale (who plays Buster Bluth), who said that “we’ve all had moments.”

“But not like that, not like that,” Walter said. “That was bad.”

The streaming service announced a 2018 release for season 5 of “Arrested Development” last May, long before Tambor was ousted from his leading role on “Transparent.” The star of the Amazon series was fired in February following sexual misconduct accusations made against him by actresses Van Barnes and Trace Lysette.

Also Read: Jeffrey Tambor Admits He Was 'Mean' and 'Difficult' on 'Transparent' Set, Denies Sexual Misconduct

Tambor has denied all accusations of wrongdoing, though he opened up about the experience (as well as his behavior toward Walter) in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month, after Netflix announced Tambor would be returning for the next installment.

Representatives for Walter and Tambor did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.

“Arrested Development” Season 5 Part 1 launches May 29 on Netflix.

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