Marvel actor Jonathan Majors’ ex-girlfriend sues him for defamation and assault

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Marvel actor Jonathan Majors’ ex-girlfriend sues him for defamation and assault
Actor Jonathan Majors‘ ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari sued him in federal court Tuesday, three months after a New York City jury convicted him of assaulting and harassing her.

Jabbari, a British dancer who is suing Majors, the former Marvel actor, alleging defamation, malicious prosecution, assault and battery in the Southern District of New York, alleges in the court papers that Majors physically abused her several other times during their nearly two-year relationship, the first time in July 2022.

And she alleges in the lawsuit that since Majors was convicted in December, he has continued to attack her reputation.

“When publicly confronted with Grace’s numerous allegations of abuse, Majors has called her a liar at every turn and very specifically claimed that he has never put his hands on a woman, with the goal of convincing the world that Grace is not a victim of domestic abuse but instead a crazy liar who should be treated as such,” the lawsuit says.

Majors’ attorney, Priya Chaudhry, said they were anticipating Jabbari’s lawsuit.

“This is no surprise,” Chaudhry said in an email. “Mr. Majors is preparing counterclaims against Ms. Jabbari.”

In the court papers, Jabbari also alleges that Majors “has consistently engaged in an escalating pattern of abusive behavior towards women since as early as 2013.”

Jabbari, who met Majors in 2021 on the set of “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” did not identify who else he may have abused. And Jabbari’s lawyer, Brittany Henderson, did not reply to a call seeking comment.

In February, two more of Majors’ ex-girlfriends, Emma Duncan and Maura Hooper, told The New York Times that he had physically and emotionally abused them, too. Those allegations span 2013 to 2019.

Majors, through his lawyer, denied that he had physically abused Duncan, and in response to emotional abuse allegations from Hooper, his lawyer told the Times, “Looking back, he is embarrassed by some of his jealous behavior.”

Marvel parted company with Majors, once a rising star in Hollywood, in December after he was convicted.

Majors, who played supervillain Kang the Conqueror in the Marvel movie franchise, had been set to revisit the role in 2026’s “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty.”

But, apparently in an attempt to salvage his acting career, Majors continued to deny harming Jabbari in an interview with ABC News in January and insisted that while he had witnessed domestic abuse, he had never done it himself.

“I have never hit a woman,” Majors said. “I have never. My hands have never struck a woman. Ever.”

Jabbari, in her lawsuit, said Majors was trying to trash her.

“Now that Majors can no longer physically abuse Grace, he has resorted to very publicly abusing her reputation,” her lawsuit says. “Following his arrest, Majors immediately implemented an extensive media campaign smearing Grace, claiming that he was ‘completely innocent,’ ‘is probably the victim,’ that he ‘did not assault her whatsoever,’ and that ‘this woman was having an emotional crisis, for which she was taken to a hospital’.”

Jabbari alleges in the lawsuit that Majors attacked her for the second time in September 2022, “this time causing serious injuries to her body.”

While in London, Majors allegedly threw Jabbari onto the hood of a car and covered her mouth when she cried out for help, according to the lawsuit. Then, after he took her back inside their home, Majors banged her “head against the marble floor while strangling her until she felt she could no longer breathe,” it claims.

“Soon after, Grace disclosed the physical abuse to a member of Jonathan’s management team in an effort to get him help,” the lawsuit says. “Majors was furious when he learned that Grace had outed him as an abuser.”

The violent episode that resulted in Majors’ being charged erupted, according to Manhattan prosecutors, in March 2023 after Jabbari spotted a text on his phone from a woman named Cleopatra while they were riding in a car from Brooklyn to Manhattan.

Prosecutors said Majors slapped Jabbari in the face and fractured the middle finger on one of her hands. And when Jabbari got out of the car, Majors threw her back inside “like a football,” they said.

Majors denied striking Jabbari, and his lawyers contended he was the victim of a jilted lover who left him bloodied and who went club-hopping with three strangers after the alleged abusive encounter.

In the end, a nine-person jury found Majors guilty of harassment and misdemeanor assault, and he was scheduled to be sentenced in February. That date was postponed to April 8 after Chaudhry, his lawyer, filed a last-minute motion for the judge to overturn the verdict.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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