Jonathan Majors: More former partners, plus Lovecraft Country crew, speak out

As Jonathan Majors’ conviction on assault and harassment continues to wind its way toward sentencing, The New York Times has more information about Majors’ past behavior on deck this evening. Pulling from a mixture of background info collected for his 2023 trial, plus interviews with several of the women in question, the Times piece focuses on two women, Emma Duncan and Maura Hooper, who were both in long-term romantic relationships with the (now-former) Marvel star, both of whom said he was possessive and abusive. (Physically so, at least one of the women alleges.) The Times also spoke to several women who worked on Majors’ breakout project, HBO series Lovecraft Country, who described incidents of unprofessional behavior from the star.

Duncan, who was engaged to Majors from 2015 to 2019, describes a number of incidents of threats and physical violence from Majors across a long and tumultuous relationship. (Majors’ lawyer, quoted extensively in the article, denies any of the legally actionable bits about threats or actual injuries, but does cop to Majors being incredibly jealous during the relationship—and admits to one incident where Duncan and Majors apparently “both fell into a mailbox” while she was trying to prevent him from harming himself. Duncan’s statement asserts that he “slammed her body into their mailbox” amidst an argument.)

Amidst other statements, Duncan asserts that Majors told her to kill herself, threatened that “I’m going to make sure you can’t have children,” and, on one occasion, choked her. Hooper’s shorter relationship, which happened while she and Majors were together at Yale, didn’t contain elements of physical violence per her account, but she describes him “love-bombing” her and isolating her from her support structures.

Meanwhile, the Times piece included interviews with multiple staffers on Lovecraft Country, which ran on HBO for a single season in 2020. Jessica Pollini, a TV vet who served as first assistant director on one of the show’s 10 episodes, describes an altercation with Majors in which he drew her into a private meeting on the show’s set and told her “You’re not welcome here.” Other female staffers said they warned each other to keep their distance from Majors on the show’s set.

Majors’ sentencing, for two convictions related toward behavior toward ex-girlfriend Grace Jabbari, was originally scheduled for earlier this week; it has since been moved to April 8.