Jonathan Majors Abuse Allegations Go Back Nearly a Decade – Rolling Stone

J
onathan Majors was a Hollywood star — and on the cusp of going supernova. The Last Black Man in San Francisco first introduced him crucial acclaim. Lovecraft Country, The Harder They Fall, and Creed III propelled his recognition. And most lately, early buzz for his upcoming movie Magazine Dreams and his recurring Kang the Conqueror character within the Marvel Cinematic Universe had been set to make him a family title. 

But these days, most headlines about Majors have been involving a messy home violence case. In March, Majors was arrested for allegedly attacking a girlfriend. And this week, the New York Post and Times each reported that the New York Police Department has alerted officers that there’s possible trigger to arrest Majors’ accuser, as nicely. The legal case in opposition to Majors stays open and the allegations threaten to upend his profession — the primary public stain on an in any other case unblemished repute. In dozens of latest interviews with Rolling Stone, nevertheless, those that have recognized Majors over the previous decade declare he has a historical past of abusive conduct.

During this three-month investigation, Rolling Stone spoke with greater than 40 individuals who have recognized Majors throughout his time in graduate college, his Hollywood profession, and his romantic relationships. Many describe Majors as being a sophisticated, unpredictable, and generally violent man, who can change from charming to chilly in a flash. (All of the sources for this text requested anonymity, citing worry of profession repercussions and private retribution from Majors. Some declare they had been prohibited from talking. “My only response can be that I am silenced by an NDA he had me sign,” says one one who labored with Majors.) 

Their tales recommend a sample of alleged bodily, psychological, and emotional abuse that dates again a decade to Majors’ time at Yale’s David Geffen School of Drama — the place he was concerned in bodily altercations — and continued to the units of his films and TV reveals, the place manufacturing members raised considerations over his remedy of crew. 

“Jonathan Majors vehemently denies Rolling Stone’s false allegations that he physically, verbally, or emotionally abused anyone, let alone any of his past romantic partners,” Majors’ lawyer, Dustin A. Pusch, wrote in a assertion. “These allegations are based entirely on hearsay because neither of the romantic partners referenced were willing to engage with Rolling Stone for the article—demonstrating their outright falsity.”  Pusch added that Majors “also denies any allegations of abuse, violence, or intimidation during his time at Yale.” 

Most severely, greater than a dozen sources collectively declare to Rolling Stone that Majors allegedly abused two romantic companions — one bodily, each 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,” a kind of sources says. 

Majors allegedly strangled one girl he was courting, and was mentally and emotionally abusive together with her, 9 of these sources declare. The second girl allegedly instructed mates that her relationship with Majors was “emotional torture.” 

Those who’re mates with the ladies or had been current throughout their relationships with Majors independently corroborated particulars of the alleged abuse. Throughout conversations with Rolling Stone, they describe feeling alarmed by what they witnessed on the time or what they had been instructed by the ladies.

Rolling Stone is withholding the names of the ladies and the specifics of their relationships, as a number of sources voiced worry that Majors and his crew would retaliate in opposition to the ladies. 

“My experience in dealing with him and watching him in relationships with several women [is] really upsetting,” says one particular person aware of at the least two of Majors’ relationships. “As an outside observer, it made me uncomfortable.”

Majors was aggressive at work, as nicely, in line with sources. Most lately, on the set of the upcoming movie Magazine Dreams, two manufacturing members declare the 33-year-old actor pushed one particular person whereas on set and bodily intimidated one other whereas screaming at them, resulting in a criticism to producers. The sources say govt producers warned them to offer Majors his area. (A manufacturing supply with information of the scenario claims to Rolling Stone that producers had been solely conscious of 1 criticism that was made towards the tip of filming, and disputed the particular person was bodily intimidated.)

“The allegations that Mr. Majors got physical with or physically intimidated anyone on any movie set are downright false,” Pusch wrote within the assertion to Rolling Stone. “Everyone who has worked with Mr. Majors knows that he employs an immersive Method acting style, and while that can be misconstrued as rudeness at times, those who know Mr. Majors and work in the industry have attested to his dedication to his craft as well as his kindness.” 

These new allegations come in opposition to the backdrop of Majors’ ensuing case over the current home abuse claims. Last week, a choose dominated the case will go to trial beginning Aug. 3. Majors’ authorized crew has vehemently denied the girl’s accusations, and a day after his courtroom listening to, Majors filed his personal police criticism in opposition to the girl, claiming he was the sufferer within the home dispute. (As the New York Times notes, it’s not unheard-of in home violence instances for each events to be charged. For now, nevertheless, the NYPD has confirmed to Rolling Stone the investigation into the preliminary accuser was ongoing, however no extra arrest has been made.)

“No one is surprised that this is coming out,” one supply 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 greater than a dozen sources, Rolling Stone has realized of two ladies Majors allegedly abused both bodily and/or emotionally. (The two ladies declined to remark for this text, with one of many ladies, by a spokesperson, citing worry of retribution.)

One girl who dated Majors was strangled and bodily and emotionally abused, 9 sources aware of their relationship declare. At first, the sources say, Majors was romantic with the girl earlier than turning into extra manipulative and unstable. The scenario turned “really extreme abuse, physically and mentally,” one supply claims, and allegedly escalated to the purpose of “him strangling her.” Two sources declare she tried to go away a number of instances and had an exit plan at one level, however remained within the relationship. 

Majors emotionally abused a second girl he was courting, 9 folks aware of their relationship allege. The girl mentioned her relationship with Majors was “emotional torture,” in line with one supply. Though the girl instructed mates on the time Majors was by no means bodily abusive together with her, she mentioned there have been moments of “near violence” the place he would “get filled with rage,” says the supply the girl confided in. The girl instructed the supply that Majors would say he “needed to hit something or punch a wall or something of that nature.”

“No one is surprised that this is coming out. It always felt like it was a matter of time because his behavior never changed”

Another supply claims Majors was “controlling” with this companion, and a second supply confirms Majors needed the girl to be submissive to him, demanding he be in control of every thing from what they ate to who the companion might work together with. Multiple sources conveyed he exploited his energy within the relationship to forestall her from leaving him. A 3rd supply alleges there was “intense jealousy” of 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 primary supply provides. And if she “considered leaving, that would be the most foolish thing she had ever done.” 

As a part of Majors’ authorized crew’s response to Rolling Stone’s request for touch upon the abuse allegations, his attorneys despatched six character witness statements from ladies who Majors had dated or was shut with. Majors’ lawyer famous in his assertion that Rolling Stone “was provided statements from Mr. Majors’s actual past romantic partners attesting to his character and the falsity of the charges, but Rolling Stone purposefully ignored those facts and red flags and published the false charges anyway.”

In reality, Rolling Stone reached out to all six folks. Three say they by no means gave Majors’ crew permission to launch such statements. Another girl declined to share the assertion credited to her by Majors’ crew, saying it was pre-written, not truthful, and that she had by no means authorised of its launch. (One didn’t reply to a request for remark.) 

Only one girl consented to creating her assertion public. Haley Carter, a girl 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 understanding him, I can let you know who Jonathan is. He didn’t do this stuff,” the assertion mentioned, partially. “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.” 

“It was pervasively known that he was [a good actor], and that he also would terrorize the people that he had dated”

MAJORS WAS BORN in Santa Barbara, California, however grew up within the Dallas-Fort Worth space. He’s been open in previous interviews about a tumultuous adolescence: frequent strikes, his dad leaving, butting heads together with his stepdad, dwelling in his automotive, and at the least one suspension after entering into a sequence of scraps in school and as soon as pulling a knife on classmates.

Acting turned a refuge and area to grapple with and redirect his feelings. “The anger came from the inability to articulate my sadness,” he defined 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.” 

Majors pursued performing in faculty, graduating from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts in Winston-Salem in 2012. He moved to New York and later enrolled within the Yale School of Drama in fall of 2013. Administrators solely choose round 15 college students yearly for the extraordinarily selective, three-year program. 

Majors’ presence and the eagerness he introduced, in line with a classmate, challenged these in his 12 months to match his fervor, making all of them stronger actors. However, it additionally created a extremely aggressive ambiance in what was considered a secure area. Growing up taking part in soccer, Majors likened being at Yale to that of a sports activities crew, one former classmate says. “I heard him say, ‘You don’t choose your teammates. You don’t have to love everybody, but you do have to respect everybody,’” they recall. 

Nearly each alumni who spoke to Rolling Stone famous Majors’ apparent expertise, dedication, drive, and the sensation he was sure for higher issues. “[His] tremendous potential as an individual … combined with his focus and a hard work ethic was something that I expected was going to take him very far,” one former schoolmate says, additional describing Majors as “poised” and “kind.”

“There’s obviously hard-working intensity, and then there’s fear-based intensity,” explains one other former graduate whose time at Yale overlapped with Majors. “There’s this ‘Don’t step out of line with him. Just do what he says’ sort of thing. There’s an energy and a culture around him that you didn’t really cross the lines that he created.” 

That bluntness and depth, one classmate says, might turn into an excessive amount of, with Majors’ conduct allegedly manifesting into a number of confrontations and altercations together with his friends whereas he was performing, in line with six Yale alumni. “There was something else there,” the classmate says. “Things would slip out, and you knew it came from a personal place of truth. He was always working with something.”

“When you’re doing a physical scene — all of [the physical contact] has to be agreed upon,” says one schoolmate. “Nothing — especially in the pedagogy of that school — is fly off the handle.”

“His behavior was very problematic for his class,” one other Yale alumni says. “A lot of people felt in physical danger around him and certainly in mentally precarious positions because of him.” Things reached a level the place the Yale administration as soon as despatched an electronic mail “reminder about rehearsal etiquette and violence” sooner or later after Majors was concerned in a separate altercation with two different college students, a former Yale scholar claims. (The two college students didn’t reply to requests for remark.)

One of Majors’ schoolmates claims Majors struck him whereas goofing round throughout a brief break throughout a rehearsal. The males had been playfully wrestling when the previous schoolmate claims he pulled a quick, shock transfer on Majors, which appeared to stun him. Majors responded by slapping him throughout the face. Taken aback, the schoolmate says that he confronted Majors on why he hit him, however Majors allegedly shrugged it off and acted prefer it wasn’t a huge deal. “He can be very charismatic and really gentleman-like and sweet, but then he could also be really cold, scary, and violent,” the schoolmate says. “He was someone who would use his physicality to intimidate.” 

The incidents alarmed his friends sufficient that they voiced their considerations to the administration a number of instances and instructed college officers that they felt unsafe round him. One criticism stemmed from Majors allegedly telling the ladies of his class “that they didn’t match the caliber or tenacity of the men.” However, no motion was apparently taken. Former Yale graduates declare that along with the scholars’ complaints, professors and the administration had been already conscious of Majors’ disruptiveness within the classroom as a result of instructors noticed it firsthand. (Yale instructors who had been current throughout the alleged incidents didn’t reply to requests for remark.) 

A spokesperson for this system declined to touch upon any particular allegations about Majors’ conduct, however says that “Yale is committed to preserving the confidentiality and integrity of its complaint processes. This commitment helps encourage our community members to participate and is consistent with state and federal privacy laws. Accordingly, we do not comment on or even confirm the existence of specific complaints.” 

“He can be very charismatic and really gentleman-like and sweet, but then he could also be really cold, scary, and violent”

AFTER GRADUATING FROM YALE, Majors’ profession took off. In the span of a decade, he was nominated for an Emmy for his work on HBO’s Lovecraft Country, inked a cope with Marvel, and was on his solution to heartthrob standing after starring reverse Michael B. Jordan in Creed III. But his intimidating conduct, sources allege, continued. 

Hollywood has lauded Majors for his dedication to his roles, with the actor pulling from completely different Method-acting methods to immerse himself into a character. He’s admitted to taking his dedication to the intense, typically staying in character all through preparation and filming. Majors instructed Men’s Health that he as soon as took a co-star out on a Fifties-style ice-cream date as a part of his course of and practically “bit off” the pinnacle of a director who tried to inform Majors to cut back in a single scene. “Whatever it takes for me, whatever it takes,” he mentioned.  

But those that’ve labored with him say his Method performing went far past what was typical  — and created an environment the place some felt unable to do their jobs out of worry of Majors’ lashing out at them. On the set of Devotion — a 2022 movie impressed by the lifetime of Jesse Brown, the U.S. Navy’s first Black aviator — the costume division allegedly had points with Majors, together with an occasion the place he made costumers cry on set, in line with a manufacturing supply. 

“It started to become borderline abusive,” the manufacturing supply says, claiming that a crew member finally raised considerations to producers about his conduct. “It seemed like it was some kind of sick pleasure that he took out of — once those girls cried…. He did it to people who he could tell would be too afraid to stand up for themselves.” (Majors didn’t reply to particular queries in regards to the allegation. In a assertion, manufacturing firm Black Label Media claimed there was no formal criticism filed in opposition to Majors, but didn’t reply to questions on if there have been considerations or points raised about Majors’ conduct and remedy in direction of manufacturing members.)   

Majors’ upcoming film Magazine Dreams was being mentioned as his Oscar second. But manufacturing sources additionally describe Majors behaving in a method that mirrored the experiences of his Yale schoolmates. Two manufacturing members declare that Majors reacted to them in a bodily method whereas on set, pushing one particular person away from him and shifting in an intimidating method towards the opposite whereas yelling, which led to a criticism. (Other manufacturing sources corroborated the separate incidents.)

A manufacturing supply with information of the scenario acknowledged the criticism however claimed the incident didn’t contain bodily contact or intimidation on Majors’ half. “Jonathan was immediately made aware of the complaint and he was mortified that he had made someone feel bad.” The manufacturing supply provides that producers “feel strongly that we would have heard about any physical inappropriateness.”

The Elijah Bynum-directed movie, which is slated to be launched by Searchlight Pictures in December, follows a bodybuilder who’s obsessive about turning into a champion however is overcome with self-resentment and simmering rage. Crew members say Majors was Method performing for the function and that earlier than filming, producers gave them a heads-up to maintain their distance from him. However, three sources declare that Majors nonetheless made some folks uncomfortable and was verbally aggressive — each screaming and cursing at crew members. 

Although a number of sources declare at the least one criticism was made to higher-ups, Majors additionally served because the movie’s govt producer, and at the least two say they felt Bynum wasn’t in a place to chastise Majors due to the star energy he was bringing to the low-budget impartial movie. (Bynum didn’t reply to Rolling Stone’s request for remark.) 

“I’ve heard of different Method actors and how their behavior is, but none of them are violent or rude toward their crew,” one manufacturing member claims. “[Majors] was completely disrespectful and kind of violent toward everybody.… It put everyone on a stress level because we can’t do our job because we were afraid we were gonna get hurt.”

“At the end of the day, it’s just a job. You leave it at the door,” one other crew member provides. “You don’t terrorize people with your character.” 

A 3rd manufacturing member explains Majors’ character within the movie “was deeply lonely, isolated, hurt, and angry.” “It’s a very hard headspace to be in as an actor, and to do that for months is an immense stress on the psyche,” they are saying. Still, they acknowledged that Majors may very well be short-tempered and lash out at crew members, however believed it was as a result of he was centered on making an attempt to remain in character. “Hopefully, he learns to pause for a second before he lashes out and can be honest about the stresses that a person takes on,” they add. 

Another manufacturing supply says whereas Majors had a “dark intensity to him” on set, they chalked it as much as him being in character, saying, “To me, I’ve never seen that energy on set be put towards crew — I saw it go right into the scenes which were really dark.”

“At the end of the day, it’s just a job. You leave it at the door. You don’t terrorize people with your character.” 

Majors’ profession hangs in limbo as his case makes its method by legal courtroom on misdemeanor expenses of assault, tried assault, and aggravated harassment. 

The fallout from the accusations has been swift and substantial. Majors’ publicists on the Lede Company and his administration at Entertainment 360 parted methods with the Creed III star shortly after his arrest, and he was subsequently dropped from a variety of high-profile tasks, together with an advert for the U.S. Army. (Marvel has but to deal with plans for its upcoming film Avengers: The Kang Dynasty, with Majors anticipated to reprise his main function as Kang the Conqueror. Earlier this month, Disney pushed its launch to May 2026. A rep for Marvel didn’t reply to Rolling Stone’s request for remark.) 

According to officers within the legal case stemming from his arrest in March, Majors inflicted minor accidents to the girl’s head and neck, and pushed her into the aspect of a automotive throughout a battle. The girl claimed Majors twisted her arm and finger behind her physique “causing substantial pain.” “I further observed [Majors] strike me with his hand across my right ear causing substantial pain and a laceration behind my right ear,” in line with her criticism. 

The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is withholding the title of the girl as a result of she is taken into account a sufferer within the legal investigation. In April, a choose granted the girl a full non permanent order of safety in opposition to Majors, barring all contact between the events. That similar month, Variety reported that a number of ladies who claimed Majors abused them had come ahead to cooperate with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office. 

Majors’ authorized crew has gone on the offensive, submitting a counter police criticism in opposition to the girl, claiming the girl had hit and scratched the actor. His attorneys have offered textual content exchanges between the previous couple, and pictures reportedly of the actor’s accidents that his lawyer claims presents proof the girl was the aggressor within the scenario. (Doug Cohen, a spokesman for the DA’s workplace, declined to remark to Rolling Stone on if the NYPD had an energetic discover for possible trigger to arrest the girl. He famous the “investigation and case into the assault charges against Mr. Majors remains ongoing.”) Majors’ crew has additionally implied there may be racial bias within the DA Office’s investigation and claimed Majors is a sufferer of a “witch hunt.” 

In a assertion, the girl’s lawyer, Brad Edwards, tells Rolling Stone that his consumer “was frightened to death of Mr. Majors. I think now it should be obvious to everyone why. Using the media to gaslight is not a strategy that should garner him much long term sympathy … Out of respect for the criminal process, and the prosecuting attorneys that will make decisions based on evidence, we do not intend to respond to rumors and will instead allow the criminal process to work without the sideshow that Mr. Majors and his team are trying to create.”

While Majors faces legal expenses, those that knew him have grappled together with his dichotomous conduct whereas at a storied establishment the place excellence reigns and on units the place his abilities are acknowledged on the sacrifice of many who’ve dealt together with his unstable conduct. 

Those who knew the ladies who had been allegedly abused acknowledge that many individuals discover Majors “magnetic and charming,” however they declare it’s all a facade supported by his expertise. “He’s an incredible manipulator,” one supply says. “He’s a master at knowing what people want to see.”