Meghan McCain defends Jonah Hill against his 'manipulative' ex Sarah Brady's abuse allegations

Joey Nolfi
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Meghan McCain is no longer on The View, but that hasn't stopped her from spouting hot takes about heated issues. In the latest entry of her recurring Daily Mail column, the conservative commentator defended actor Jonah Hill against emotional abuse allegations.

The late John McCain's daughter criticized Hill's ex-girlfriend, surf instructor Sarah Brady, for publicizing private text messages and potentially inciting cancel-hungry masses against the 39-year-old Oscar nominee.

Meghan McCain and Jonah Hill
Meghan McCain and Jonah Hill

Jamie McCarthy/Getty; Gregory Pace/Shutterstock Meghan McCain and Jonah Hill

"The era of the blanket 'believe women' mantra is over. Or, at least, I hope it is," McCain wrote at the top of her column. "Brady is acting like a martyr. She claims she released the private texts as a 'warning to all girls' and called on Hill's friends to 'hold him accountable.' I'm not sure what that means, but it sure sounds threatening. Does she want him excluded from entertainment industry, his career ruined, his reputation destroyed? In the past, Hill has been open about his struggles with mental health, anxiety and panic attacks. That doesn't justify abuse, but we must realize that there are usually two sides to every story. And a few messages released without context can hardly illuminate the situation."

McCain said that, after studying Brady's posts, she doesn't "think Hill sounds anything like the monster his ex portrays him to be," and praised the actor for setting boundaries in his relationship.

"Good for him," McCain wrote. "In this day and age, a man asking a female partner to practice modesty and restraint is automatically interpreted as misogyny."

She prompted her readers to look inward and ask themselves, "If these roles were reversed and Brady was asking Hill to avoid hanging out with other women or with men she didn't like, would she be considered an 'abuser'?" She went on to stress that she doesn't "condemn men for telling their partners what they want."

She noted, however, that she won't defend Hill for "cursing at a partner," as that's an "intimidating and cruel" act, but that doesn't make him "an emotional abuser deserving of ridicule and punishment."

McCain ended her piece with a question for Brady. "Why hold these messages for months and release them now and so soon after Hill and his girlfriend had a baby?" she said, referencing the June 2023 birth of Hill's child with current girlfriend Olivia Millar.

"Brady addressed this on Monday, writing, 'I waited until [Millar] had her baby, so I knew they were like physically not impacted by me sharing this s***, and she could be informed and make an informed decision of how she wants to care for herself and her baby…'" McCain noted. "Here Brady is admitting to being manipulative — timing her release for maximum effect."

EW has reached out to Brady for a response to McCain's piece.

Over the weekend, Brady publicly shared a series of images she alleged to be screenshots of conversations between herself and Hill during the course of their relationship between 2021 and 2022.

"This is a warning to all girls," Brady wrote in a since-expired Instagram Story, which showed a person saved in her phone as "Jonah" asking her to remove public-facing photos of her "ass in a thong" and to not engage in "boundaryless [sic] inappropriate friendships" with other men. "If your partner is talking to you like this, make an exit plan," Brady noted.

"To be clear, my intention was not to cancel him," Brady clarified Monday in a new series of Instagram Stories. "I'm not trying to 'cancel' anyone."

Representatives for Hill did not immediately respond to EW's request for comment.

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