How Jonathan Majors used his post-conviction interview to ‘attack the victim’

Domestic violence expert says Majors turned to ‘classic defense’ to seek sympathy

Just weeks after receiving a guilty verdict in the misdemeanor assault and harassment trial involving his ex-girlfriend, Jonathan Majors is still denying the charges. Asked whether he accepted the conviction for third-degree reckless assault, which carries a penalty of up to a year behind bars, Majors told Good Morning America: “I was reckless with her heart, not with her body.”

In the 34-year-old former Marvel actor’s first interview since his physical altercation with the British dancer Grace Jabbari last March, he wiped away tears and choked back emotion. Nicole Bedera, a sociologist who studies sexual violence, said the conversation featured hallmark tactics of Darvo, an acronym for deny, attack, and reverse victim and offender. “He’s denying the reality that’s being put in front of him and attacking the victim by suggesting that she’s the one who’s actually mistreating him,” says Bedera. “It’s the classic defense of men who have behaved badly and are looking for empathy.”