NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� Throughout the implosion of his once-skyrocketing Hollywood career, from to his harassment and assault conviction, has maintained that he has never struck a woman.
But on Monday, as Majors was in the midst of a comeback attempt and a PR push that returned him to magazine covers, Rolling Stone published an audio recording of a conversation between Majors and Grace Jabbari. Majors was found guilty of one misdemeanor assault charge and one harassment violation in the head with an open hand and breaking her middle finger by squeezing it.
鈥淚 aggressed you,鈥� Majors acknowledges in the recording, confirming her description of him strangling her and pushing her against a car. The recording appeared to contradict Majors鈥� previous claims and upend his redemption tour just as opens in theaters Friday.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, Majors declined to address the recording, and whether he has assaulted women.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 answer that,鈥� Majors responded. 鈥淚 can鈥檛 speak to that.鈥�
Majors says he's changed, but not everyone is convinced
Majors, who was sentenced to probation and in November, is striving for an unusually swift rebound following a precipitous downfall. Before his March 2023 arrest, Majors was steering toward and a possible Oscar nomination for Elijah Bynum鈥檚 鈥淢agazine Dreams,鈥� in which he plays a disturbed aspiring bodybuilder prone to violent outbursts.
Two years later, Majors returns to the public eye with a pledge that he鈥檚 changed just months after completing a year of At the same time, he's not directly addressing any of the allegations against him 鈥� including those from two previous partners, Emma Duncan and Maura Hooper, who in statements submitted pretrial, detailed physically violent and emotionally abusive incidents that bear some similarities to the Jabbari case.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not something I can talk about legally,鈥� Majors says. 鈥淚 said to my wife the other day, I鈥檝e changed. I don鈥檛 recognize myself. I don鈥檛 recognize that guy. I鈥檓 in a completely different place. There鈥檚 no doubt that I was in turmoil. That guy then didn鈥檛 have any tools to deal with things. I don鈥檛 know if I liked the guy then. He was accomplished, he was doing great things in certain ways. But I don鈥檛 know if I would have hung out with him.鈥�
Majors, who sat for an interview at a Manhattan hotel without a publicist present, spoke reflectively about his experience of the past two years 鈥� with the exception of anything specifically related to the conviction, the additional abuse allegations or the women who say he harmed them. Despite never naming a misdeed, Majors says he is reformed.
鈥淚鈥檇 say to anyone who cares to listen: I鈥檝e had two years of deep thought and mediation and rumination on myself and my actions, my community, my industry,鈥� he said. 鈥淚鈥檓 stronger now. I鈥檓 wiser now. I鈥檓 better now.鈥�
Not everyone is convinced. Hooper, who met Majors at Yale Drama School and dated him from 2013 to 2015, described a traumatizing and controlling relationship. A year after their relationship ended, Majors learned of her having a relationship with someone he knew, she said. According to Hooper's statement, Majors called her and shamed her for having an abortion, which he had encouraged, and told her to kill herself.
鈥淭he level of anger that I experienced from this man, I don鈥檛 know you exorcise that from your life or your behavior in only 52 weeks,鈥� Hooper told the AP. 鈥淧eople go to therapy for years. I went to therapy for years after Jonathan Majors just to get my mind back.鈥�
Hooper and Duncan's statements were ultimately not allowed as evidence during the trial, but they remain public record. Attorneys for Majors have denied some of their claims, describing both relationships as 鈥渢oxic.鈥�
Duncan, who dated and was engaged to Majors from 2015 to 2019, described at least eight physical or threatening encounters in her statement. During an argument in 2016 while driving in Chautauqua, New York, he threatened to strangle and kill her, she said. At a spa in Santa Fe, New Mexico, she discovered text messages between Majors and another woman and began packing to leave. He pushed her into couch and began choking her while saying he was going to kill her, Duncan said. (She didn't respond to an email from the AP seeking comment. Attorneys for Jabbari also didn't respond to emails.)
鈥淭here is a documented history of 10 years of abuse of women where he calls women 鈥榮luts,鈥� he calls us 鈥榝at whores,鈥� he tells us to kill ourselves,鈥� Hooper says. 鈥淲hen I hear people say, 鈥楥ome on, how come he can鈥檛 come back into the fold?鈥� I don鈥檛 know that those people have read this or understand that we鈥檙e talking about a pattern.鈥�
Another test of #MeToo in Hollywood
A changed political climate and several recent cases, including the have suggested Hollywood has entered a new chapter in the #MeToo movement. Majors' attempted comeback is one of the most conspicuous tests to the fraying curbs of cancellation and #MeToo vindication.
鈥淲e鈥檙e suffering a period of tremendous political retrenchment and backlash in this movement,鈥� says who represented Christine Blasey Ford, accuser of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, along with Weinstein accusers. 鈥淢uch of what we鈥檝e fought for seems to be on the line.鈥�
But women are still coming forward, and Katz believes companies and industries will hold the accused accountable. For his part, Majors, who was has no new films announced. 鈥淢agazine Dreams,鈥� which debuted at the 2023 Sundance Film Festival before his arrest and was subsequently dropped by Searchlight Pictures, is being the indie distributor
鈥淛onathan made a mistake. There was due process. Justice was served. And then we move on, which I think is generally how we like to think this country operates,鈥� Tom Ortenberg, chief executive of Briarcliff, said Thursday. 鈥淲e鈥檙e faced with two choices: Should 鈥楳agazine Dreams鈥� be allowed to be seen? Or should we burn the negative?鈥�
Numerous A-listers, including Michael B. Jordan and Matthew McConaughey, have advocated for Majors鈥� return to Hollywood. Still, Katz believes Majors鈥� comeback will ultimately sputter because it hasn鈥檛 gone beyond the strategy of what she describes as 鈥済et a good PR firm and show my soft side.鈥�
鈥淚 think he鈥檚 going to suffer a significant comeuppance,鈥� says Katz. 鈥淗e hasn鈥檛 owned up to the behavior. He hasn鈥檛 apologized. The only thing he appears to be sorry about is that he got caught.鈥�
Majors' past, and where he goes next
For Majors, his self-examination has focused more on an earlier experience he suggests was at the root of what he calls his turmoil.
鈥淭here was a lot of trauma that was piled up and ignored. The best way to describe it is it as an energy that unfortunately was there,鈥� says Majors. 鈥淚 was feeding the wrong wolf. And that wolf became unignorable. And I was really good at moving fast and outrunning the rabid wolf of trauma. The best thing that could have happened to me 鈥� not to my career but to me 鈥� was to have to face it.鈥�
Majors, who was raised by his pastor mother in Texas after his father left, says from the age of 9 to about 13, he was the victim of multiple incidents of sexual abuse, from, he says, 鈥渢wo male family members and my sisters鈥� friends who were older than me 鈥� they were older than her.鈥�
鈥淚t felt like kids being kids and then it became something different very quickly,鈥� Majors says. 鈥淎nd then it became a pattern.鈥�
Majors only recently began wrestling with this past, he says, working through it in therapy and in conversations with his family. A phone call with his sister, he says, reawakened memories.
鈥淚t was an experience that I just killed in my head,鈥� Majors says, tearing up.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not a boo-hoo-bro, so-sad-for-you situation,鈥� he says, wiping away tears. 鈥淚t鈥檚 life. It鈥檚 the hand you鈥檙e dealt, and I didn鈥檛 know how to play those cards. I鈥檓 learning how to play those cards.鈥�
Now, Majors says, he鈥檚 never been happier. On Tuesday, were wed in a small, impromptu ceremony in Los Angeles officiated by his mother. 鈥淲e called the family and said, 鈥楬ey, jump on FaceTime,鈥欌�� he says, calling it the best day of his life.
鈥淢agazine Dreams,鈥� he thought, would never see the light of day. Now, though, he鈥檚 hopeful
鈥淚 now understand that acting is in many ways my ministry. It鈥檚 in many ways my calling,鈥� Majors says. 鈥淚f it鈥檚 not, I鈥檓 waiting for someone to tell me it鈥檚 not. I鈥檓 waiting for God to tell me it鈥檚 not. He鈥檚 not said that.鈥�
Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
