Jonathan Majors' 'Extreme Abuse' Allegedly Goes Back Nearly a Decade
Jonathan Majors was abusive with his partners and a source of “toxicity” at Yale, say 22 sources. Majors “categorically denies” all accusations.
www.rollingstone.com
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ONATHAN MAJORS WAS a Hollywood star — and on the cusp of going supernova. The Last Black Man in San Francisco first brought him critical acclaim. Lovecraft Country, The Harder They Fall, and Creed III propelled his popularity. And most recently, early buzz for his upcoming film Magazine Dreams and his recurring Kang the Conqueror character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — were set to make him a household name.
But lately, most headlines about Majors have been involving a messy domestic violence case. In March, Majors was arrested for allegedly attacking a girlfriend. And this week, the New York Post and Times both reported that the New York Police Department has alerted officers that there is probable cause to arrest Majors’ accuser, as well. The criminal case against Majors remains open and the allegations threaten to upend his career — the first public stain on an otherwise unblemished reputation. In dozens of new interviews with Rolling Stone, however, those who have known Majors over the past decade claim he has a history of abusive behavior.
During this three-month investigation, Rolling Stone spoke with more than 40 people who have known Majors during his time in graduate school, his Hollywood career, and his romantic relationships. Many describe Majors as being a complicated, unpredictable, and sometimes violent man, who can switch from charming to cold in a flash. (All of the sources for this article requested anonymity, citing fear of career repercussions and personal retribution from Majors. Some claim they were prohibited from speaking. “My only response can be that I am silenced by an NDA he had me sign,” says one person who worked with Majors.)
Their stories suggest a pattern of alleged physical, mental, and emotional abuse that dates back a decade to Majors’ time at Yale’s David Geffen School of Drama — where he was involved in physical altercations — and continued to the sets of his movies and TV shows, where production members raised concerns over his treatment of crew.
When reached for comment, Majors’ legal team claimed that Rolling Stone’s investigation was a “months-long campaign to dig up dirt” on the actor. They added that Majors “categorically denies the accusations that he engaged in any abusive, threatening, or harassing behavior at any time in his career, including during his years at Yale University.”
Most seriously, more than a dozen sources collectively claim to Rolling Stone that Majors allegedly abused two romantic partners — one physically, both of them emotionally. “It was pervasively known that he was [a good actor], and that he also would terrorize the people that he had dated,” one of those sources says.
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.”
Those who are friends with the women or were present during their relationships with Majors independently corroborated details of the alleged abuse. Throughout conversations with Rolling Stone, they describe feeling alarmed by what they witnessed at the time or what they were told by the women.
Rolling Stone is withholding the names of the women and the specifics of their relationships, as several sources voiced fear that Majors and his team would retaliate against the women.
“My experience in dealing with him and watching him in relationships with several women [is] really upsetting,” says one person familiar with at least two of Majors’ relationships. “As an outside observer, it made me uncomfortable.”
Majors was aggressive at work, as well, according to sources. Most recently, on the set of the upcoming film Magazine Dreams, two production members claim the 33-year-old actor pushed one person while on set and physically intimidated another while screaming at them, leading to a complaint to producers. The sources say executive producers warned them to give Majors his space. (A production source with knowledge of the situation claims to Rolling Stone that producers were only aware of one complaint that was made toward the end of filming, and disputed the person was physically intimidated.)
These new allegations come against the backdrop of Majors’ ensuing case over the recent domestic abuse claims. Last week, a judge ruled the case will go to trial starting Aug. 3. Majors’ legal team has vehemently denied the woman’s accusations, and a day after his court hearing, Majors filed his own police complaint against the woman, claiming he was the victim in the domestic dispute. (As the New York Times notes, it’s not unheard-of in domestic violence cases for both parties to be charged. For now, however, the NYPD has confirmed to Rolling Stone the investigation into the initial accuser was ongoing, but no additional arrest has been made.)
“No one is surprised that this is coming out,” one source says. “It always felt like it was a matter of time because his behavior never changed. He’s kind of a bad dude, and now it’s just catching up with him.”
Throughout conversations with more than a dozen sources, Rolling Stone has learned of two women Majors allegedly abused either physically and/or emotionally. (The two women declined to comment for this article, with one of the women, through a spokesperson, citing fear of retribution.)
One woman who dated Majors was strangled and physically and emotionally abused, nine sources familiar with their relationship claim. At first, the sources say, Majors was romantic with the woman before becoming more manipulative and volatile. The situation became “really extreme abuse, physically and mentally,” one source claims, and allegedly escalated to the point of “him strangling her.” Two sources claim she tried to leave multiple times and had an exit plan at one point, but remained in the relationship.
Majors emotionally abused a second woman he was dating, nine people familiar with their relationship allege. The woman said her relationship with Majors was “emotional torture,” according to one source. Though the woman told friends at the time Majors was never physically abusive with her, she said there were moments of “near violence” where he would “get filled with rage,” says the source the woman confided in. The woman told the source that Majors would say he “needed to hit something or punch a wall or something of that nature.”
Another source claims Majors was “controlling” with this partner, and a second source confirms Majors wanted the woman to be submissive to him, demanding he be in charge of everything from what they ate to who the partner could interact with. Multiple sources conveyed he exploited his power in the relationship to prevent her from leaving him. A third source alleges there was “intense jealousy” in their relationship. “She said on a few occasions that he wanted her to believe that he was the oxygen in the room [and] that she could not live without him,” the first source adds. And if she “considered leaving, that would be the most foolish thing she had ever done.”
As part of Majors’ legal team’s response to Rolling Stone’s request for comment on the abuse allegations, his attorneys sent six character witness statements from women who Majors had dated or was close with. However, when contacted by Rolling Stone, three say they never gave Majors’ team permission to release such statements. Another woman declined to share the statement credited to her by Majors’ team, saying it was pre-written, not truthful, and that she had never approved of its release. (One did not respond to a request for comment.)
Only one woman consented to making her statement public. Haley Carter, a woman whom Majors dated from age 13 to 18, described Majors as “sweet, kind and gentle,” in a message drafted in late March. ”After 20 years of knowing him, I can tell you who Jonathan is. He did not do these things,” the statement said, in part. “He is exactly the opposite of what these allegations say. Jonathan is the most self-controlled, disciplined, well-mannered person I know. We all call him ‘the peacekeeper.’ He is not violent in any way.”
MAJORS WAS BORN in Santa Barbara, California, but grew up in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. He’s been open in past interviews about a tumultuous adolescence: frequent moves, his dad leaving, butting heads with his stepdad, living in his car, and at least one suspension after getting into a series of scraps at school and once pulling a knife on classmates.
Acting became a refuge and arena to grapple with and redirect his emotions. “The anger came from the inability to articulate my sadness,” he explained to the Texas Observer. “Which is what acting really gave me: the ability to articulate, with language, with nuance, with emotion, what I’m feeling.”
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