The former girlfriend of Marvel star Jonathan Majors has testified that the actor is prone to fits of explosive rage, something she says ultimately led to him assaulting her in the back seat of a car and his career-halting arrest earlier this year.
Key points:
- Jonathan Majors could be sentenced to up to a year in jail if convicted of the charges against him
- He is a rising Hollywood actor who was set to anchor the next phase of the Marvel cinematic universe as supervillain Kang the Conqueror
- He allegedly assaulted his ex-girlfriend in the back seat of a car in New York in March
During hours of tearful testimony in a New York courtroom, Grace Jabbari traced the downfall of her relationship with Mr Majors, who she described as a “kind and loving” partner increasingly unable to control his “violent temper”.
She said he hurled household objects at walls and often threatened to take his own life, at times referring to himself as a “monster”.
“It felt like I was walking around on eggshells,” Ms Jabbari, a 30-year-old professional dancer from the United Kingdom told the court.
“I had to be perfect.”
The troubled romance came to a head on the evening of March 25, as the couple were riding back to Manhattan from a dinner already marred by a heated argument over Mr Majors’s recent outbursts, she told the jury.
During the drive, Ms Jabbari was leaning on his shoulder when he received a “romantic” text message sent by a woman named Cleopatra.
After she snatched the phone out of his hands, she said Mr Majors twisted her arm behind her back in a position that left her in “excruciating” pain.
“Next I felt a really hard blow across my head,” she said, pantomiming the motion of an open hand making contact with the back of her skull.
“He’s very strong. I couldn’t move,” Ms Jabbari continued.
“It feels very loud when you’re hit in the head, and just shocking.”
Mr Majors eventually pried the phone from her hands and took off through the streets of Lower Manhattan as Ms Jabbari chased after him, according to a video compilation taken from various surveillance cameras that was shown to jurors.
The testimony came on the second day of the trial against Mr Majors, a rising Hollywood film actor whose portrayal of the comic book supervillain Kang the Conqueror was set to anchor the next phase of the Marvel cinematic universe.
The fate of those films and others starring the 34-year-old remains uncertain since his arrest in March for allegedly assaulting Ms Jabbari in the back of the car.
An attorney for Mr Majors has maintained that she was the instigator of the confrontation and suggested that race – Mr Majors is black; Ms Jabbari is white – may have factored into his arrest and prosecution.
Mr Majors is charged with misdemeanours that include assault and he could be sentenced to up to a year in jail if convicted.
The actor avoided eye contact with his former girlfriend for much of the day’s testimony on Tuesday, scribbling notes to his lawyer or thumbing through his gold-leafed Bible as she recounted how he quickly toggled from emotionally sensitive to abusive.
“It was confusing,” she said, “because I felt scared of him, but quite dependent on him.”
In the US summer of 2022, while struggling with a gruelling diet and exercise regimen for his role as a bodybuilder in the film Magazine Dreams, Mr Majors became “full of rage and aggression” without explanation, Ms Jabbari said.
He lashed out at her, she recalled, throwing objects during one argument that left dents in the walls and sent her ducking for cover in their West Hollywood home.
A few months later, while filming in England, Mr Majors allegedly blew up at Ms Jabbari again after she came home from a bar “tipsy” with a friend.
In a recording played for the court, Mr Majors can be heard berating his girlfriend for not living up to the standards set by other spouses of famous men, like Coretta Scott King and Michelle Obama.
“I’m a great man. A great man!” Mr Majors declared.
“There needs to be a great woman who makes sacrifices.”
On Tuesday, Ms Jabbari also addressed a series of videos that showed her partying in a Manhattan nightclub hours after the alleged assault.
Speaking to jurors, Ms Jabbari said she had met a group of “generous” strangers on a corner after chasing Mr Majors out of the vehicle following the attack.
“The worst thing in my head would’ve been to go back to the empty apartment we shared in that moment,” Ms Jabbari said.
Acknowledging that she can be seen on videos smiling, dancing, and taking shots with the new friends, she added: “I was having the nicest time I could’ve had within the situation.”
Ms Jabbari is expected to return to the stand on Wednesday local time.
AP