Jonathan Majors was sued by his ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari for defamation related to his criminal trial and for prior assault and battery.
via: Rolling Stone
The professional dancer and movement coach filed suit in the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, claiming Majors “has consistently engaged in an escalating pattern of abusive behavior towards women since as early as 2013.”
“When publicly confronted with Grace’s numerous allegations of abuse, Majors has called her a liar at every turn and very specifically claimed that he has never put his hands on a woman, with the goal of convincing the world that Grace is not a victim of domestic abuse but instead a crazy liar who should be treated as such,” the lawsuit claims.
“It takes true bravery to hold someone with this level of power and acclaim accountable,” says Jabbari’s attorney Brittany Henderson. “Bravery that Grace Jabbari has demonstrated at every stage of the legal process. We strongly believe that through this action, truth and transparency will bring Grace the justice that she deserves.”
Rolling Stone has contacted Majors’ attorney for comment.
The civil suit comes nearly one year after Majors was arrested for attacking Jabbari after a fight broke out over his phone when Jabbari saw him receive a romantic text from another woman. Although Majors maintained his innocence and claimed Jabbari was the aggressor that night, a jury found Majors guilty of reckless assault in the third degree and harassment in December. (He was acquitted of the two more serious charges, intentional assault and aggravated harassment.)
Majors was due to be sentenced in February, but the date was pushed to April 8 after his legal team filed a last-minute motion for the judge to overturn the verdict.
The civil suit claims that Majors was physically violent with Jabbari at multiple points during their relationship after meeting on the set of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in August 2021, including a September 2022 incident in London. Majors is accused of throwing Jabbari onto the hood of a car, covering her mouth as she shouted for help. After bringing her back inside their home, he allegedly banged her “head against the marble floor while strangling her until she felt she could no longer breathe,” according to court documents. Majors allegedly threatened to kill Jabbari, who sustained a head injury and could “barely move without pain … [and] have a constant ringing headache.”
During the trial, prosecutors and Jabbari were barred from discussing previous instances of alleged physical abuse because the case only focused on the charges from March 2023. These alleged previous incidents were prepared as evidence but were deemed inadmissible after Majors’ legal team argued they were “highly prejudicial.” The September 2022 incident was briefly mentioned during the trial but no details of how Jabbari sustained an injury were given — only that Majors pleaded with her not to go to the hospital and threatened to kill himself.
The civil suit lists five causes of action, including intentional infliction of emotional distress, malicious prosecution and defamation. Jabbari is seeking compensatory damages and punitive damages in an amount that is to be determined at trial.
Jabbari’s legal team argues that Majors defamed their client by making numerous false statements, saying that both Majors and his attorneys are “keenly aware of Grace’s allegations that Majors has physically laid hands on her on more than one occasion.” They highlighted Majors’ January interview with ABC News where he said he didn’t know how Jabbari sustained her injuries and claimed he has “never hit a woman … My hands have never struck a woman.”
Last month, Majors’ ex-girlfriends Emma Duncan and Maura Hooper came forward to The New York Times to claim they had also been physically and/or emotionally abused during their relationships with Majors. Their testimonies were prepared as evidence that was not allowed into the trial. Their accounts were first referred to in Rolling Stone’s investigation from last June where more than a dozen sources independently corroborated details of the alleged abuse. (Through his attorney, Majors denied claims of physical abuse at the time and described his relationships with both women as “toxic.” At the time, Duncan and Hooper declined to comment for the original article, with one of the women, through a spokesperson, citing fear of retribution.)
Majors’ attorney Priya Chaudhry “continued to double down on the defamatory attack,” the lawsuit alleges, citing her interview with New York magazine’s the Cut where she is quoted, “Honestly, I don’t give a shit … The idea that I should coddle [Jabbari feels like suggesting] I should coddle the woman who accused Emmett Till.”
The malicious prosecution claim pertains to Majors filing a police report against Jabbari in June, alleging that she was the aggressor the night before his arrest. The DA’s office declined to prosecute the case, citing a lack of prosecutorial merit. Jabbari’s attorneys described the police report as “a truly desperate attempt to discredit his victim before trial.”
The biggest revelation from the civil suit comes from full details surrounding a spate of September 2022 incidents that were bombshell moments from the trial. While some portions of the disputes were discussed during the trial, the suit claims that the fights culminated with Majors allegedly attacking and strangling Jabbari, which led her to try and seek medical aid.
The couple began living together in London in August 2022 while Majors was filming the Disney+ series Loki. “At this juncture, Majors’s erratic, intemperate, and physically violent behavior continued to increase towards Grace,” the suit claims. The prolonged fight allegedly began when Majors became upset with Jabbari for going to a pub with a friend and having the friend back over to their house. “Majors had just finished personal training and became very angry with Grace for having company,” the suit alleges.
The next morning, a confrontation ensued and Jabbari testified at trial that Majors claimed she was “stupid” if she didn’t know what she had done wrong. “During this fit of rage, Majors was screaming at Grace in her face and threatening that she had better not be at the house when he returned,” the suit claims.
Back at their home, according to the complaint, Jabbari “heard Majors barreling up the stairs. When he arrived at the bedroom, he began throwing objects in anger. Grace was able to escape from the home before Majors was able to physically hurt her.”
Majors allegedly texted Jabbari and “‘reasoned’ with her saying that they made ‘a plan’ and ‘now that you’ve told your parents the whole marriage plans are ruined.’” They reunited but Jabbari claimed Majors became angry again and began chastising her. Prosecutors played an audio recording of the fight where Majors is heard admitting he has a temper and that he expected Jabbari to hold herself to the standards of Coretta Scott King and Michelle Obama in order to support him.
On Sept. 20, 2022, Majors “became physically aggressive” the suit claims, when “Majors pushed Grace so hard that it bruised her backside.” Jabbari attempted to leave the house and Majors allegedly “picked Grace up in the air and threw her against the hood of her car,” according to court documents. “Grace began shouting for help. Majors then forcefully grabbed Grace, placing her in a headlock and put his hand over her mouth to prevent someone from hearing her cries for help. He brought Grace back into their house and held his hands around her neck, stating that he wanted to kill her, and that he was going to kill her. Majors then started hitting Grace’s head against the marble floor while strangling her until she felt she could no longer breathe.”
The aftermath of the alleged attack made its way into trial after Judge Michael Gaffey ruled that Majors’ attorney’s line of questioning during Jabbari’s cross-examination opened the door for texts discussing Jabbari’s injuries as a result of the fight to enter the trial.
Majors later texted Jabbari and pleaded with her not to go to the hospital, according to the suit and evidence shown at trial, saying, “I fear you have no perspective of what could happen if you go to the hospital. They will ask you questions and as I don’t think you can actually protect us it could lead to an investigation even if you do lie and they suspect something.”
Some of Jabbari’s responses were redacted during the trial, but the lawsuit says Jabbari went on to tell Majors, “Why would the man I love throw me around. Strangle me and look at my eyes and say he hates me and wants to kill me … I’m reminded of what happened each [waking] second because I can barely move without pain. . . I also have to heal physically. That’s not me stating other than facts. I have endured a bad head injury and I feel unwell. I have brain fog. I have a constant ringing headache.”
Majors called himself a “monster and horrible man” and threatened to kill himself, according to the lawsuit and texts shown at trial. Jabbari wrote that she would “not go to the doctor if you don’t feel safe with me doing so, or don’t trust me to. I promise I would never mention you but I understand your fear.”
The suit also detailed another incident from June 2022 in Los Angeles when Majors allegedly became angry with Jabbari and began shouting in her face. He pinned her arms to her side before shoving her against a shower door and throwing her against a wall, which caused her to hit her head, the suit claims. Later, Majors threw candles and objects around their bedroom. Photos of the wreckage were shown at trial and Majors admitted in his interview with ABC News that he lost his temper.
The accusations of additional physical assaults follows Jabbari’s testimony during trial which she described as a whirlwind romance that quickly darkened. Jabbari claimed Majors would allegedly fly into a “rage,” attempt to control her behavior, throw glass objects around her, and routinely threaten to commit suicide in the aftermath of such incidents. Jabbari testified that she felt responsible for Majors’ emotions and grew increasingly isolated from her friends and family because she felt like she was “lying” by hiding aspects of her relationship from them. In his ABC News interview, Majors described his relationship with Jabbari as “toxic.”
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