Meet Montia Sabbag — Woman In Kevin Hart Sex Tape Suing Him For $60 Million
She had sex with Hart in 2017 and someone filmed it. Now she says Hart was in on the plot.
Instagram It's been two years since Kevin Hart had to admit to the world — and to his wife — that he had had a fling with a woman in Vegas. Not only that but there was video of the indiscretion and someone was asking him for money to stop the release of the sex tape.
At the time, Montia Sabbag, the woman in the video with Hart, said she didn't blame the Jumani star for the tape or the extortion attempt. She even said he was a victim in the plot. Now, she has filed suit saying Hart was behind the surreptitious taping and she wants $60 million to make up for her loss of privacy.
Who is Monita Sabbag? Read on for all the details.
1. 2017 sex tape
In 2017, Hart met Sabbag in Las Vegas and the two shared a steamy evening in the actor's hotel room. Later, Hart revealed that the incident had been taped, allegedly without his knowledge. The owner of the tape contacted Hart later and asked him for money to block the release of the embarrassing video. Instead of paying the blackmailer, Hart confessed to the affair. He made a video that he posted to Instagram explaining that he did a bad thing and he had talked to his pregnant wife about it.
Newsweek notes that later that year, he went on Power 105.1 FM's The Breakfast Club to talk about the incident and how it affected his marriage. "It's beyond irresponsible. There's no way around it. The best way to do is just address it, right on," said Hart. "That's Kevin Hart in his dumbest moment. That's not the finest hour of my life. With that being said, you make your bed, you lay in it. You can't say, 'What were you thinking?' because you weren't thinking." The comedian added: "You don't plan to f**k up. You f**k up and then you go, oh s**t, I f***ed up. I'm gonna go home, I'm gonna address it, I'm gonna make my wife fully aware of what's going on in the situation that I have now put us in and I'm hoping that she has a heart to where she can forgive me and understand that this is not going to be a reoccurring thing and allow me to recover from my f***ing massive mistake."
2. Kevin Hart appears to be the victim too
In the wake of the extortion plot Sabbag hired attorney Lisa Bloom to represent her. In a press conference, she confirmed that she had slept with Hart but that she wasn't the force behind the scheme to get money out of him. "I am not an extortionist. I’m not a stripper. I’m a recording artist and an actress, and I have not broken any laws. I had nothing to do with these recordings,” NBC reports that she said at the time.
Bloom noted that the cameras had been placed in the room without Sabbag's knowledge. "Montia is, therefore, the victim of multiple felonies under state and federal law,” Bloom said, before adding "Montia and I are not asking for a cent from Kevin Hart,” the attorney said. “This is not about money. We are not suing him. We are not making any claims against him. Any reports to the contrary are false. Kevin Hart appears to be the victim of this criminal just as Montia is the victim of this criminal.”
Hart admitted to the affair.
3. Jonathan Jackson implicated
As time went on, news outlets learned that the man behind the tape and the blackmail was Jonathan "JT" Jackson. Jackson and Hart used to be friends before Jackson taped Hart cheating on his wife and threatened to release the video. The Blast indicates that Hart was helping police investigate Jackson by providing recordings and text messages between himself and Jackson.
4. Jonathan Jackson arrested
In May 2018, the LA district attorney's office reported that they had arrested Jonathan Todd Jackson in connection with the blackmail scheme. In a press release, the office said "Jonathan Todd Jackson (dob 3/4/77), aka Action Jackson, was charged in case BA467710 with one count each of attempted extortion and extortion by threatening letter. He is expected to be arraigned today in Department 30 of the Foltz Criminal Justice Center." The release went on to say, Jackson is accused of trying to extort an undisclosed amount of money from Hart between Aug. 25 and Aug. 30, 2017. Jackson allegedly had a videotape of the actor with a woman in Las Vegas and then is accused of trying to sell the recording to numerous celebrity news websites, prosecutors said."
Newsweek reports that Jackson pleaded not guilty in September 2018 and the case is ongoing.
5. New lawsuit filed
Now Sabbag, who is represented by a different attorney at this time, has filed a suit against Hart. Page Six reports that Sabbag is filing now, two years after the initial incident, because “on September 17, 2019, [she] became aware for the first time of the video’s existence and that she had been surreptitiously videotaped while naked and engaging in private sexual activity in a private bedroom and that her privacy had been invaded.” The tape actually leaked at the time of the original incident so it isn't clear why Sabbag only now learned of the contents. She goes on to assert that the entire scheme was to “promote [Hart’s] Irresponsible Tour, which was a record-breaking comedy tour and to increase his overall pop culture status,” according to the documents obtained by People.
She also named Jackson and the Vegas hotel where the affair occurred in her suit. She is asking for $60 million in damages and suing for negligence, negligent infliction of emotional distress and invasion of privacy, according to The Blast.
Sabbag filed suit this week.
6. Hart has no comment
Kevin Hart hasn't commented on the lawsuit. The comedian was badly injured in a car accident earlier this month and is recuperating from back injuries.
Rebekah Kuschmider has been writing about celebrities, pop culture, entertainment, and politics since 2010. Her work has been seen at Ravishly, Babble, Scary Mommy, The Mid, Redbook online, and The Broad Side. She is the creator of the blog Stay at Home Pundit and she is a cohost of the weekly podcast The More Perfect Union.