NEW YORK — The actor Jonathan Majors begged his former girlfriend not to seek medical attention after an incident that left her with a head injury last year, warning she had "no perspective of what could happen" if the truth got out, according to previously undisclosed text messages read at the actor's criminal trial on Friday.
"They will ask you questions, and as I don't think you actually protect us, it could lead to an investigation even if you do lie and they suspect something," Majors wrote to his girlfriend, Grace Jabbari, on Sept. 22, 2022.
Jabbari replied that she would tell doctors she bumped her head, assuring Majors: "Why would I tell them what really happened when it's clear I want to be with you?"
The messages were read on the fifth day of the Manhattan trial against Jonathan Majors, a rising Hollywood star from North Texas who is fighting to salvage his reputation after his arrest for allegedly assaulting Jabbari in a separate incident, months later, in New York City.
Additional information about how she sustained the injuries during the September altercation, which took place in London, were not discussed in court. The six-person jury was instructed to consider the messages as "background" as they assessed the assault and harassment charges stemming from Major's alleged attack on Jabbari in the backseat of a car on March 25th.
Prosecutors have said Majors exhibited a "cruel and manipulative pattern" of abuse, culminating with a backseat confrontation in which he struck her in the side of the head, twisted her arm behind her back, and broke her middle finger.
Majors' attorneys maintain that Jabbari was the instigator of the struggle. During several days of grueling questioning this week, the defense pressed Jabbari about videos showing her partying in the aftermath of the alleged assault, as well as the vague statements about her injuries that she gave police and medical professionals on the morning after the March confrontation.
That line of questioning may have backfired. In an unexpected decision on Friday, Judge Michael Gaffey said the defense's "aggressive" attempt to impugn Jabbari's character had "opened the door" to permitting text messages about the earlier altercation to be read aloud in court.
Those messages – which were previously sealed – showed Jabbari explaining to Majors that the recent head injury had left her unable to sleep and in need of a stronger painkiller. "I would not go to the doctor if you don't feel safe with me doing so," she adds.
Later in the conversation, Majors accuses Jabbari of "rejecting" his love, then repeatedly threatens to take his own life. "I'm a monster, a horrible man," he wrote. "I am killing myself soon. I've already put things in motion."
At the time, Majors and Jabbari were living together in London as the actor filmed the second season of the Disney+ series "Loki." Prior to his arrest, Majors was set to serve as key supervillain in the Marvel multiverse, reprising his role as "Kang the Conqueror" in two upcoming "Avengers" films.
The fate of those films – along with other projects he was involved in – remains uncertain.