The former Marvel star spoke for the first time since his March 2023 arrest, claiming he doesn’t know how his former girlfriend Grace Jabbari sustained her injuries
Jonathan Majors is maintaining that there was no physical abuse during his two-year relationship with former girlfriend Grace Jabbari during a new interview with Good Morning America that aired Monday, saying he was “absolutely shocked and afraid” when a jury convicted him of reckless assault in the third degree and harassment.
The former Marvel star, 34, continued to insist that he didn’t know how Jabbari, whom he met on the set of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania in summer 2021, suffered her injuries from a fight that broke out between the couple in March 2023. Majors was accused of attacking the professional dancer, who sustained a fractured finger and a gash behind her ear during the fight. Majors maintained that he was only “reckless with her heart … not with her body,” repeating that he was not responsible for her injuries. “That did not happen,” he said. “I wish to God I knew [what caused her injuries]. That would give clarity, that would give me some type of peace about it.”
Majors spoke publicly for the first time about his domestic violence trial, sitting down with ABC News anchor Linsey Davis in a pre-taped interview. The appearance comes before Majors is due back in court on Feb. 6 for sentencing, where he faces up to a year behind bars.
The actor addressed a Rolling Stone report from June 2023 that detailed how Majors allegedly physically and/or emotionally abused two previous romantic partners, according to a dozen sources who knew the women. Majors allegedly strangled one woman he was dating and was mentally and emotionally abusive with her, nine of those sources claim. The second woman allegedly told friends that her relationship with Majors was “emotional torture,” and there were moments of “near violence” where he would “get filled with rage” and “hit something or punch a wall.”
In the GMA interview, Majors denied that he was ever abusive in any relationship, saying that although he has witnessed domestic abuse, he’s never participated in it. “I’ve been smacked at before but never exercised it,” Majors said. “Those relationships went back to when I was 21, 22 years old, and I just think, was I a jerk? Was I a mean guy? Yeah, knowing what I know now, like, oh — severe depression, childhood trauma. I’ve had very few relationships, so I can gather what situations we’re talking about. Yeah, I was not the best boyfriend at the time … but [I] never hit a woman. My hands have never struck a woman, ever.”
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In a statement regarding Majors’ interview, Jabbari’s attorney Brittany Henderson tells Rolling Stone, “It is not at all surprising that Mr. Majors continues to take no accountability for his actions. His denigration of our jury system is not dissimilar from the above-the-law attitude that he has maintained throughout this legal process. The timing of these new statements demonstrates a clear lack of remorse for the actions for which he was found guilty and should make the sentencing decisions fairly easy for the court.
“Ms. Jabbari will continue to speak the truth and seek justice in the appropriate forums in a continued effort to respect our legal process,” Henderson adds.
In his interview, Majors said he was in disbelief when the verdict came in. “I’m standing there, and the verdict comes down, I say, ‘How was that possible? Based off the evidence, based off the prosecution’s evidence, let alone our evidence, how was it possible?’” Majors said. “If you watch those videos and you reverse that, and you saw a Black man chasing a young white girl down the street, screaming, crying — that man is going to be shot and killed in the streets in New York City.”
During an extended version of his interview, which aired Monday night, Majors doubled down and said he believed race “absolutely” played a part in the case and “guilty” might as well be printed on his birth certificate. He said it was “hurtful” that Jabbari didn’t face prosecution for the injuries she allegedly caused him. Majors filed a police report in June, claiming that the dancer had attacked him, leaving him with scratches on his arm and on his face. “Why it is hurtful?” Majors asked. “Because I know what happened. In that moment, what I felt was, ‘Oh, I’m nothing.’”
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Majors did not take the stand during the highly publicized trial that stretched two weeks, which ended in December with a jury convicting him of attacking Jabbari. Majors said he initially was preparing on testifying, but in the end he felt that his case was so strong that he didn’t need to. Although Majors was cleared of two other charges — intentional assault and aggravated harassment — Marvel quickly announced it would no longer be working with the actor, who was set to reprise his role as the multiverse villain Kang the Conqueror in the franchise’s upcoming film Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.
“It’s like the world stopped,” Majors said of the back-to-back blows of the guilty verdict and Marvel’s announcement. “You work so hard for things and then it’s done. And in that same breath I thought, ‘Man that was cool’ … I was a supervillain. I got to play multiple characters with a group of people that really cared nothing about anything else except making really cool movies and giving their actors whatever they need to tell those stories and I’m so proud of it.”
The Creed III star discussed the details surrounding one of the trial’s more explosive moments pertaining to a series of incidents that occurred while the former couple lived together in London, where Majors was filming the second season of Loki. Prosecutors showed the jury text messages where Majors begged Jabbari not to go to the hospital to receive treatment for a head injury, then later threatened to kill himself. (How Jabbari sustained the injury was not given.)
“It’s just fake,” Majors wrote in the messages. “And you have, 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 actually protect us it could lead to an investigation even if you do lie and they suspect something.”
Majors said he didn’t know “what injuries [Jabbari] was talking about” but admitted his “ideations of removing myself from situations permanently is a thought that I’ve had since I was a kid. Since I was a young boy on the farm in Texas. It’s not there anymore. I’m doing the work to keep it at bay and make sure it’s not there anymore.”
The professional dancer and movement coach testified during the trial that she first met Majors on the set of the Marvel film, describing the early stages of their relationship as a romantic whirlwind. However, as their relationship progressed, Jabbari said she had grown afraid of Majors. She claimed the actor would fly into a “rage,” attempt to control her behavior, throw glass objects around her, and threaten to kill himself in the aftermath of such incidents. Routinely breaking down during her testimony, Jabbari explained 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 the interview, Majors called their relationship “dangerous” and said he should have “been brave” and ended things with Jabbari earlier. While Majors admitted that he had lost his “temper” at moments, he claimed he has never been physically abusive during a relationship, “ever.”
As part of the Manhattan prosecutors’ case, other women’s testimonies about their alleged abusive relationships with Majors were prepared as Molineux evidence — a legal term that provides a pathway for prosecutors to use prior events to help prove that a defendant’s conduct is “inextricably interwoven with the charged acts.” Their testimonies are currently under seal and ultimately were not permitted into the trial. Some of the Molineux evidence did make its way into the trial following Majors’ attorney Priya Chaudhry’s cross-examination of Jabbari, which allowed for the head injury texts from September 2022 to be admitted.
Before his arrest, Majors’ star was on the rise. He had achieved box office success with the early 2023 releases of Creed III and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania. And his performance as a lonely bodybuilder with violent fantasies in Magazine Dreams was garnering Oscar buzz after its premiere at Sundance. However, Majors was quickly dropped by both his management and publicist teams in the wake of the accusations, and Searchlight Pictures indefinitely postponed Magazine Dreams’ December 2023 theatrical release. The final blow was Marvel’s decision to part ways with Majors despite previously planning the franchise’s next two films around his character. It is unclear if the studio will recast the role or pivot to a different storyline for the upcoming films.
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Majors credited girlfriend actress Meagan Good as his “angel” and for standing by him, comparing her to Martin Luther King’s wife Coretta Scott King. He said he hopes people believe he’s deserving of a second chance and wants to work in Hollywood again. “I pray I do,” he says. “That’s God’s plan and God’s timing.”
This article was updated at 8:23 p.m. to include Majors’ extended interview, which aired the evening of Monday, Jan. 8.
