Speaking exclusively for the first time since his domestic violence sentencing, the embattled ‘Magazine Dreams’ star opens up about his childhood abuse, Marvel firing and fight for Hollywood redemption: “It’s harder to find a way when you are trapped in notoriety.”
In December 2023, Jonathan Majors walked through a dense thicket of news cameras and climbed into the back of a black Chevy Suburban pulling away from the criminal courthouse in lower Manhattan. After a highly publicized trial, Majors had just learned that a jury convicted him of one count of misdemeanor third-degree assault and one count of second-degree harassment of his ex-girlfriend, British dancer Grace Jabbari. Inside the hushed car, a member of his legal team turned around from the front seat and delivered the next piece of news. “He goes, ‘I’m just gonna tell you now,’” Majors says. “That way you’re not surprised, and you can start processing it. They fired you. Marvel fired you.’”
Before his arrest that March, Majors was fresh off the Warner Bros. box office hit Creed III, the Marvel movie Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania and an Emmy nomination for the HBO series Lovecraft Country. He seemed poised to explode professionally. Cast as the MCU’s new villain, Kang the Conqueror, the heir apparent to Josh Brolin’s franchise staple character Thanos, Majors was on track to make life-changing money and to lead 2026’s Avengers: The Kang Dynasty. He was also set to be the subject of a well-financed Oscar campaign for the indie movie Magazine Dreams, a drama Disney’s specialty studio, Searchlight Pictures, bought after it premiered to critical raves at Sundance, particularly for Majors’ raw performance.
All of that evaporated when a jury determined that Majors was responsible for a cut behind Jabbari’s ear and a fractured finger, and a judge later sentenced him to probation and a 52-week domestic violence intervention program. Majors was also dropped by his manager, Entertainment 360, and publicity firm, The Lede Company. (His agent, WME’s Elan Ruspoli, who testified as a witness in the trial, remained with Majors and still represents him today.)
“There were days when it was like, ‘Is this real?’” says Majors, 35, of the period of time during and immediately after his trial, where he pleaded not guilty. “It’s a heartbreak like I’ve never experienced and it just compounded and compounded.”
Majors’ story provokes a range of reactions — anger from survivors of domestic violence, protectiveness from his friends and colleagues, confusion from fans. The actor’s contested narrative is about to enter its next act, when Magazine Dreams finally comes to theaters on March 21, more than two years after the film’s Sundance premiere, via the small distributor Briarcliff Entertainment.
In a long and emotional interview in February, and a follow-up interview in March, Majors, who had not sat down with a journalist since he was sentenced in April 2024, talked for the first time about the aftermath of the trial, about the childhood sexual abuse that he says led to depression as an adult and about what his life looks like now. Majors says he is unable to comment directly on Jabbari’s allegations of domestic violence (Jabbari also brought a civil suit against Majors, and their settlement presumably limits what either party can say about the case). Still, his position frustrates those who followed his trial and want a full apology, including at least one ex-girlfriend who spoke to THR. Majors says he does feel responsible for the direction of his life.
“At some point there has to be accountability for writing your own story,” Majors says. “Am I going to fall into that narrative of falling apart, of self-destruction? Have a struggle, blame the world. Have a struggle, hate yourself. Have a struggle, deny everything. None of those narratives is beneficial.” Instead, Majors says, his strategy as he builds a new life post-trial is: “Have a struggle, learn, metabolize, grow.”
In addition to Majors, this article is also based on interviews with 19 others, most speaking on the record about their experiences with the actor. Whether Hollywood will take Majors back is an open question, and will depend in part on whether audiences show up for Magazine Dreams. But many high-profile people who have worked with Majors are advocating for him. “You don’t get to say sorry these days,” says Whoopi Goldberg, who appeared with Majors in his first screen role, the 2017 TV miniseries When We Rise, and works with his fiancée, Meagan Good, on the Amazon Prime series Harlem, which just aired its third season. “He was arrested. He went to court. He did what he was supposed to do. I’m not sure what else there is.” Majors’ Creed III director and co-star Michael B. Jordan says he would like to work with Majors again. “I would love to make Creed IV together — among other projects,” Jordan says over email. Matthew McConaughey, who co-starred with Majors in the 2018 Sony crime drama White Boy Rick, writes, “I’ve known and know him as someone who is continuously striving to improve as a human, a man and an actor. I believe in him.”
But Maura Hooper, one of two of Majors’ ex-girlfriends who gave a pretrial statement to prosecutors in the Jabbari case alleging abuse, in her case emotional abuse, isn’t sold on Majors’ comeback. “I don’t really care that his movie is coming out,” Hooper says. “What do you get at the end of a 52-week domestic violence course? Do the victims get a debrief? How could I know if he’s changed? I don’t see redemption happening here.”
Majors grew up outside Dallas, raised by his mother, a pastor, with whom he is still close. His father, a classical pianist who was in the Air Force, left when he was 8, and Majors did not see him again until his dad came with his sister to see him perform in a college play in North Carolina. “My pop is a very beautiful man, very gentle, but had some qualities that were not complementary to family life,” Majors says. “He was the best dad until he wasn’t. And when he wasn’t, he was gone.”
Majors says after his trial, in addition to the domestic violence program, he underwent therapy and reengaged with his pastor, and as a result began to unpack childhood traumas he had not confronted before. “I dealt with sexual abuse from both men and women from the time I was 9,” Majors says. “From people who are supposed to look after you, in the absence of a father. I was fucked up.” In recent months, when Majors told his mother about the abuse, he says she apologized for not being able to protect him. “I’m like, ‘It’s not even an issue, mom. I just want you to know. And now we can all get busy and continue to connect and grow and learn from it, because it’s something that was in our family.’” Processing the abuse, Majors says, has led to more self-knowledge about his behavior in relationships. “There are no excuses, but by getting help, you begin to understand things about yourself.”
Magazine Dreams’ distributor, Briarcliff Entertainment, is the same small company that picked up The Apprentice when other companies balked at the Donald Trump origin story, and helped score Oscar nominations for Sebastian Stan and Jeremy Strong. Briarcliff plans to open Magazine Dreams in 800 theaters, and will expand based on how it performs. “Anecdotally, we know that Black audiences — both men and women — are extremely enthused about the film,” says Briarcliff CEO Tom Ortenberg. “There is also pent-up demand from the art house audience, which has been waiting for it since Sundance. And the bodybuilding audience is enormously enthused about this film.” Ortenberg said the feedback he has gotten from entertainment industry colleagues since he picked up Magazine Dreams has been positive. “Based on what I’m seeing, people are rooting for Jonathan,” Ortenberg says.
A prominent casting director for major studio movies says Majors faces an uphill battle rebuilding his acting career. “If [Magazine Dreams] comes out and it’s a giant hit, then everybody reassesses,” she says. “Maybe not at the studios, maybe not at public companies, but independent people. You look at a guy like Jonathan Majors, is he talented? Absolutely. But is there somebody else who can fill the bill? Probably. There are a lot of really talented people out there, and there are fewer and fewer projects, so, with the exception of a very small echelon, people are replaceable.” This casting director believes that historically, Black actors have been held to different standards than white ones in Hollywood. “Like other marginalized people, you know you have to be in better behavior,” she says.
Asked what he thinks his life will look like five years from now, Majors says, “Me and Meagan, maybe a couple kids and my [11-year-old daughter], happy, at ease, not worried about anything.” Professionally, he says, he hopes he will be acting. “Do I hope to make more movies? Absolutely. That is my intention. But that’s not my call. I don’t have a studio. And I’ve given up control.” Asked what he would say to the entertainment industry today, Majors says, “I would tell them I’m still learning, and I would thank them for participating in my growth.”
