MANHATTAN (CN) — Attorneys for “Creed III” actor Jonathan Majors prodded his assault accuser during cross-examination on Wednesday afternoon about tension that her alcohol consumption may have contributed to their 19-month relationship.
Grace Jabbari, a 30-year-old dancer and choreographer from the United Kingdom, remained calm during cross-examination Wednesday as Majors' defense attorney grilled her about her recollections of their relationship and the volatile night this past spring that finally ended their relationship amid suspicion of infidelity and led to his arrest on charges of assault and harassment.
"Drinking has been a constant source of tension in your relationship with Mr. Majors," attorney Priya Chaudhry asked Jabbari in a series of questions hammering the British dancer about her drinking.
"Your parents have complained about your drinking,” the lawyer divulged, drawing an objection that was sustained and the question was struck from the record before her client’s ex-girlfriend answered.
Jabbari dated Majors from August 2021 until March 2023, when they broke up in the immediate aftermath of the turbulent fight in a taxi returning to Lower Manhattan from a dinner in Brooklyn.
Jabbari began her direct testimony as the victim-witness for the prosecution’s case on Tuesday morning, which focused on Majors’ emotionally manipulative and controlling behavior in their relationship in the months leading up to the cab ride, when Majors is accused of violently manhandling the British dancer after she glanced at a text message on his cellphone from a contact named “Cleopatra”.
During cross-examination on Wednesday afternoon, Chaudhry pressed Jabbari as to whether she had misled doctors at Bellevue hospital on the morning after the altercation about how much she’d had to drink the night before.
“You told the doctors you had had five to six glasses of wine,” Chaudhry said. “You didn’t tell the doctors you had had shots of alcohol for dinner…You didn’t tell them about the shots you’d had at [nightclub] Loosie’s?”
“I tried to recall to my best ability,” Jabbari replied, tallying up her drinks that night: two drinks at a theater seeing a play with Majors, three cocktails at dinner preceding their altercation, then a couple glasses of champagne and a couple tequila shots at a Lower East Side nightclub after her breakup fight with Majors.
Chaudhry asked if she had returned to their dinner table while Majors was in the bathroom “to finish off one of the last alcoholic drinks.”
“Perhaps,” she responded.
“And afterward did you stash the glass so Mr. Majors wouldn’t see it,” Chaudhry followed up.
“I don’t remember doing that,” Jabbari said.
"You know there’s videos of you dancing at Loosie’s," Chaudhry asked. "And you know those were not played, correct," the lawyer said, suggesting the prosecution had selectively cherry-picked surveillance videos from the night of the incident.
The dancer/choreographer burst into tears and left the witness stand at one point Wednesday afternoon after Chaudhry sustained an objection to question that mentioned the suicide of a teenage boyfriend.
Chaudhry also sustained repeated objections from the judge when she probed Jabbari about details of her immigration status and her cooperation with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office.
Jabbari testified she is 5 feet, 6 inches tall, and weighed "about 120 pounds" at the time of the altercation, while Majors is 6 feet, 2 inches tall and approximately twice her weight. "Maybe like double me," she guessed.
During direct questioning from prosecutors, Jabbari said Majors had voiced disappointment and anger over her drinking when she’d spent a couple hours catching up with a close friend at the “local pub” near their shared home in England.
She testified earlier on Wednesday during direct questioning that she first learned of Majors' arrest while she was at the hospital getting a splint put on her right finger."I just felt really sad, I felt like it was my fault," she told the jury. "I felt like I should have just lied so he wouldn't get in trouble."
Majors’ defense lawyers counter that he was the actual victim of the domestic altercation that night and argued in opening remarks on Monday that Jabbari only pressed charges as a revenge for ending their relationship.
Chaudry’s previous high-profile clients include “Real Housewives of Salt Lake City” star Jen Shah and “Crash” director/screenwriter Paul Haggis.
The “Real Housewives” star is currently serving out a prison sentence of six and a half years after she pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with a telemarketing scheme that preyed upon the elderly.
Majors, a Yale School of Drama graduate, faces up to a year in jail if convicted on multiple misdemeanor counts of assault and aggravated harassment.
The Marvel actor has pleaded not guilty to the charges and has been supported in court by his current girlfriend, “Stomp The Yard” actress Meagan Good, each day of the trial so far.
The trial, on its third day Wednesday, is expected to last two weeks.
Follow @jruss_jruss
Subscribe to Closing Arguments
Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.
