Jonah Hill tagged in for Darius Jackson on the Summer Jam Screen after the actor’s former girlfriend Sarah Brady put him on blast for “emotionally abusive” texts.
Source: Dia Dipasupil / Getty
A jealous ex went viral for harassing his girlfriend about covering up, but it’s not Keke Palmer’s baby daddy. Maybe overwhelming support for the Big Boss actress inspired the 25-year-old, because she chose “both revenge and healing” on Saturday. She exposed the You People star for trying to control everything from what she wore to the friends she had.
Holy fuck. He went through her Instagram with surfing pictures/videos and told her to remove them because “boundaries.” Literally says “anything with a bathing suit.” pic.twitter.com/uKLlMrxEYR
— celia (@_celia_bedelia_) July 8, 2023
“This is a warning to all girls. If your partner is talking to you like this, make an exit plan. Call me if you need an ear,” Brady captioned screenshots of alleged texts from Hill on Instagram Stories.
What’s crazy about this Jonah Hill situation is that they were going to couples therapy and the therapist was literally calling him out for his behavior and thought process and he just rejected it. https://t.co/qtMvhkk37V
— ✨Kei$ha✨ (@GlamazonJay) July 8, 2023
My dander is up. Jonah Hill is also a whole 40 y.o. man choosing to date a 25 y.o., wonder why.
— Joy Hui Lin 林 慧 ปิติ 🥄 (@joyhuilin) July 9, 2023
Hill, who is 15 years her senior, seemingly insisted on being more like a father figure than a partner. The first post of the alleged conversations with Hill started with giving in to his demands to delete photos from her social media page. Even though Brady didn’t double down as Keke did, that still wasn’t enough to avoid a condescending lecture.
“Good start. You don’t seem to get it. But it’s not my place to teach you. I’ve made my boundaries clear,” the responses said, manipulating “therapy speak,” which is increasingly popular online and in everyday conversations.
“You refuse to let go of some of [the pictures] and you’ve made that clear. And I hope that makes you happy.”
I swear I don’t care about Jonah Hill. It just occurs to me that a lot of women don’t know that professionals have developed a language for digital abuse. We tell teenagers this, maybe we should tell their parents? Surveilling your social media is bad. https://t.co/MdaO0Wtsj1
— Tressie McMillan Cottom (@tressiemcphd) July 9, 2023
When someone sends you a lot of messages about what you just posted or who comments on your photo or how you text, it’s a form of control, yes. That’s why it is manipulative. It’s not okay just because it’s said nicely or stripped of some context in a text bubble.
— Tressie McMillan Cottom (@tressiemcphd) July 9, 2023
Then a series of screenshots of Brady’s posts followed, instructing her on which surfing pictures to remove next. How cringe! Some comments praised the calm tone, but the series of messages policing every little choice is a red flag. Others agreed with Sarah that obsessively controlling someone’s social life is “emotionally abusive” and often escalates to more toxic, harmful behavior.
Jonah Hill and Keke Palmer’s BD demonstrate clearly how they expect that once a woman is in a relationship with them, she must be invisible to the world. It’s control. Love is not compatible with control.
— Dr DamselInDisDress (@visassitude) July 8, 2023
“See the misuse of the term ‘boundaries’?” Brady captioned a screenshot of ultimatums about her surfing lifestyle.
This is from Sarah Brady – Jonah Hill’s ex – this is manipulative, abusive bullshit.
SHE IS A SURFER AND SHOULDN’T…post pictures of herself in a bathing suit? WTF.
What a tiny little man. pic.twitter.com/WhU0k9tHK0
— celia (@_celia_bedelia_) July 8, 2023
It’s not like Brady shared the beach pictures to show off her “a** in a thong” like the messages complained (although that’s her right as a grown woman). She’s always in swimsuits because she’s a lifelong surfer and L.A.-based instructor in the sport. Brady describes herself as a “3rd Generation Member of the San Onofre Surfing Club.”
let me add this here. https://t.co/u4oUjUETrf pic.twitter.com/hBuPfXUxIm
— King Pierre. 🦁🇭🇹 (@pierrefleury_) July 9, 2023
According to the texts, Brady wasn’t even wearing a thong in the “best surfing video,” that she begged to keep public. Brady’s receipts also show Hill violated his own “boundaries” from the jump when his account slid in her DMs with heart eyes and compliments about those same surfing videos in swimsuits.
“Kind of unbelievable that a man who sent me sh*t like [the DM screenshot] would then be upset I didn’t read his mind and take down pics of that once I was in a relationship with him,” Brady appeared to write, sending the image to a friend.
For those debating the boundaries vs control behavior Jonah Hill exhibited, take it from a licensed professional. What Hill did was controlling. Full stop. pic.twitter.com/6A4LjGnd6d
— BittaHoney (@BittaHoneyNY) July 9, 2023
Sarah Brady “Revives” IG Photos A “Narcissistic Misogynist” Requested That She Remove
On Thursday, the law student posted one of the pretty tame pics she claims a “narcissistic misogynist” made her take down. Once again, the image put on lockdown was a modest work-related photo of Brady modeling clothing samples.
The comments cheered Brady on as many shared their own experiences of emotionally abusive relationships with controlling partners.
“Those aren’t boundaries. Those are rules for her to follow so he could control her. A boundary would be: he doesn’t like when women he dates post bikini pics so he doesn’t date women who post bikini pics,” someone explained.
“Him asking you, as a surf instructor, to take down pictures of you surfing in a bikini is a desperate attempt to destroy your career and isolate you so that you have to rely on him,” another said, explaining the common pattern of this toxic mindset and behavior.
People keep reading one screenshot & not all of them & then talk about how “respectful & calm” he was yet they had a safeword for his yelling at her… pic.twitter.com/kuJAif8Ef0
— Stormy 🐱 (@Stormy_Life_) July 9, 2023
Several people defended Hill and the screenshots as reasonable expectations. Concerned comments continued to point out how extreme and inappropriate the reported behavior was.
“When he was in a relationship with her, [he] wanted her to fundamentally change the ways she presents herself in the world, her work, her pastime, who she hangs out with. Huge red flag when someone gets with you because they like the status of who you are, but then wants to bring you down because of that very same thing,” another comment warned.
“From the evidence, he emotionally manipulated her, guilt tripped her, yelled at her, and used recognised methods (by those of us in the know) to coercively control her.”
The “mitigating risk” is usually victim blaming. You controlling where people can/can’t go isn’t protection. It’s dominance. Big difference.
I promise y’all what you’re afraid is the way men have been socialized. Fight the patriarchy, not with your girlfriend. https://t.co/DMru9enG9E
— King Pierre. 🦁🇭🇹 (@pierrefleury_) July 9, 2023
The couple went public in August in 2021. Brady revealed, “It’s been a year of healing” since they broke up in 2022.
“I too struggle with mental health, but I do not use it to control [people] like he did to me. It’s been a year of healing and growth… to get back to living my life without guilt, shame, and self-judgment for thins as small as surfing in a swimsuit,” Brady wrote.
If you pursue and date a surfer living in LA and one of your conditions for partnership is “no bikinis”, you’re a nut job. I’m sorry, but fuck outta here. I’ve always enjoyed Jonah Hill’s work, but that therapy aint baking all the way through and that’s his own BS whipping him.
— AT (@primediscussion) July 9, 2023
this part. hating that therapeutic concepts are more widely available (which means more victims are able to learn to advocate for themselves sooner) doesn’t solve this. we just have to push back/respond with accuracy. https://t.co/a37fZwyXkV
— mercy thokozane minah (they/them) (@iamafreedom) July 9, 2023
Conversations like this stir up a lot of controversy, but it’s important to discuss the normalized patterns that are red flags for incompatibility at best or toxic dynamics at worst.
Jonah Hill has not yet responded to the accusations.