The Shady Side Of Kevin Hart

Considering how much Kevin Hart gushes about his wife, Eniko Parrish, it was shocking when he essentially admitted to cheating on her while she was pregnant with his child (after he knew he'd been caught).

"I'm at a place in my life where I feel like I have a target on my back, and because of that, I should make smart decisions, and recently, I didn't," a visibly distraught Hart said in a September 2017 Instagram video. "I'm not perfect... I made a bad error in judgment. I put myself in an environment where only bad things can happen, and they did. In doing that, I know that I'm going to hurt the people closest to me, who I've talked to and apologized to — my wife and my kids ... It's a s***ty moment when you know you're wrong, and there's no excuses for your wrong behavior ... But I'm not going to also allow a person to have financial gain over my mistakes, and in this particular situation, that's what was attempted. I said, 'I'd rather fess up to my mistakes.'"

Hart didn't say exactly what mistakes he'd made, but TMZ reported that someone was shopping around a video allegedly of Hart and another woman engaged in "sexually suggestive" behavior in a club and in a bed. A rep for Hart told the site, "Someone tried to set Kevin up in a failed extortion attempt. As law enforcement is involved, we cannot comment further as it could affect the investigation."

The woman in the previously mentioned video used in an attempt to extort Kevin Hart spoke out on Sept. 20, 2017, telling press, "My name is Montia Sabbag. I was involved with Kevin Hart a month ago. Since then, my pictures and my name have been released and lies written about me. I am not an extortionist. I am not a stripper. I am a recording artist and an actress, and I have not broken any laws. I had nothing to do with these recordings ... I am truly sorry for any involvement I have had in this."

Sabbag's attorney, Lisa Bloom, did not address reports that Sabbag allegedly demanded $420,000 to take a lie detector test, though Bloom did note that lie detector tests aren't admissible in court and often produce false results. 

Bloom said (via E! News), "Someone apparently snuck cameras into Kevin Hart's private hotel suite in Las Vegas and recorded bedroom images of the two of them. It is a crime to secretly put cameras in a private place like a hotel room. It is another crime to secretly record people in a private place. It is yet another crime to distribute those images. Montia is the victim of multiple felonies under state and federal laws." She continued, "Although it's been reported that law enforcement is investigating, we have no evidence of that ... We will be going to the authorities immediately to report this matter ... We will fully cooperate with law enforcement."

The attorney added, "Montia and I are not asking for a cent from Kevin Hart ... We are not suing him. We are not making any claims against him ... Kevin Hart appears to be the victim of this criminal, just as Montia is ... We invite Mr. Hart to join us in bringing the perpetrator to justice ... To the criminal who did this, I say: You belong in prison, and we are going to find you."

Kevin Hart admitted in 2016 that a big reason he didn't cheat was because he didn't want to get caught.

"At today's time, man, it's too risky," he told The Breakfast Club. "And not to say that all women are opportunists because that's not fair and that's not true. But there are some women who have given other women a bad name just with the social media and the posting of the 'in the bed with.'" 

Hart added, "So even if I were to [cheat on Parrish], there's no safe return from it. I wouldn't be a good cheater right now because I don't feel like I can trust you to cheat ... I feel like I'd be asking questions ... 'What are you doing? Are you about to post that?' It's too much, there's no sanity that comes with it. Why risk it? What am I gonna throw it all away for? It's not worth it."

Kevin Hart proposed to Eniko Parrish on Aug. 19, 2014, capturing the sweet moment on video. Coincidentally (or perhaps not), Hart's ex-wife, Torrei Hart, had a television show premiering the same day. In the show, called Atlanta Exes, Torrei talks about Kevin allegedly cheating on her. 

While TMZ suspected the comedian's timing may have been fueled by spite, it's important to note that Hart's proposal also coincided with Parrish's 30th birthday. Hours after the proposal, Kevin and Parrish reportedly ran into Torrei at an Atlanta strip club, where spies told TMZ the women did not make eye contact.

In Kevin Hart's 2015 memoir, I Can't Make This Up: Life Lessons, he recalled having affairs behind Torrei Hart's back before they even wed. 

"I was too young, dumb, and horny to take care of her emotional needs, communicate honestly, and repair damage from the mistakes," he wrote (via Radar Online). "Those mistakes came mostly from times we argued so intensely that we broke up and messed around with other people—sometimes for sex, other times for retaliation. When we inevitably got back together, the knowledge — or sometimes just the suspicion — that one of us had been with someone else made the next fight that much worse." 

He described one incident in which Torrei had temporarily moved back in with her parents, only to return to their shared home and find him with another woman. "Suddenly, I heard the sound of glass breaking outside. I ran into the street to find Torrei kicking the other woman's car in. By the time she finished, the fender was hanging off the front, the headlights were broken, and the hood was dented," Hart wrote.

The stand-up comic admitted that the cheating intensified after they married and even included "three random women" he met online. "I'd go to the show and feel justified in hooking up with one of those three women because I deserved it after being so mistreated, [but] I was the one lying, cheating, and leading a double life," Hart wrote. He reportedly continued seeing other women until one of them allegedly began stalking him and revealed his affairs to Torrei, prompting their divorce.

After Hurricane Harvey devastated Houston, Texas, and its surrounding areas in August 2017, Kevin Hart created a Hurricane Relief Challenge, in which he called out other celebrities by name, including pals Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, and Dave Chappelle to donate $25,000 each to recovery efforts.

"I think we participated in a lot of challenges on the internet, some meaningful, some meaningless, but we've all done them," Hart said in an Instagram video (via Entertainment Weekly). "At this point I'm going to start a real challenge. I'm challenging a lot of my celebrity friends to follow my lead and donate $25,000 to Hurricane Harvey, to the Red Cross ... I'm going to lead the charge and step up in this way."

"I'm blessed that Kevin Hart made a donation, but I feel like he [doesn't] have to do that [challenge]," Master P told TMZ. "It's not necessary. A lot of people are going to what they want to do. It's [their] money. We made a [substantial] donation but it really don't matter what it is, as long as you give from your heart ... I don't think you have to do that with other people."

Even pal Johnson wasn't too impressed, though he did participate. "Kevin Hart, you issued the Hurricane Harvey challenge," he said. "I appreciate you, brother. I just donated my $25,000 to the Red Cross; my companies are donating money ... I'm not going to call out my celebrity friends. You already know what to do in terms of donating money."

Kevin Hart has dozens of on-screen roles to his name, but the movie star famously said no to a major part in the past based on one particular reason. "One role I regret [turning down] was [in] Tropic Thunder," Kevin Hart told The Breakfast Club in January 2015. "Brandon T. Jackson, he got the part [of Alpa Chino]. But in my defense — first of all, before I say this, I'm politically correct to the gay community, I respect and appreciate any and everything that you all do, and as people, I love you." 

However, Hart went on to say that the character in the version of the script he read was different than the one portrayed in the film: "He was doing a lot of stuff in the draft that I read ... It was real flagrant. It was a lot of stuff, and I was like, 'I can't do this.'" When asked if he could play a gay role, in general, Hart was candid. "No. Not because I have any ill will or disrespect," he said. "It's because I feel like I can't do it because I don't think I'm really going to dive into that role 100 percent because of the insecurities about myself trying to play that part."

Montia Sabbag once complained that Kevin Hart was using their sex tape extortion scenario in his stand-up act for laughs and publicity while she was stuck being shamed.

Hart joked about the Miami and Las Vegas incidents and blasted himself for behaving "like a miscreant" in a promotional video for his then-upcoming Irresponsible tour. Sabbag's attorney later told TMZ that Hart's jokes were "very distasteful," adding, "This stuff takes a toll mentally and physically, and now with this tour it's like this whole thing was a joke."

Before becoming a household name, Kevin Hart was simply a working comedian with a few stand-up specials. As such, not all of his pre-fame material holds up. Hart has old tweets and stand-up material from 2009 through 2011 in which he uses language, scenarios, and premises that many interpreted as homophobic. When asked about his past homophobic jokes in an interview promoting 2015's Get Hard, Hart simply replied, "At the end of the day, funny is funny."

In an interview with Rolling Stone that same year, the comic revealed he wouldn't continue telling one particularly controversial joke from a past special about how he'd react if his son were gay — but not necessarily due to sensitivity or compassion for the LGBTQ+ community. "I wouldn't tell that joke today, because when I said it, the times weren't as sensitive as they are now," Hart explained. "I think we love to make big deals out of things that aren't necessarily big deals, because we can. These things become public spectacles. So why set yourself up for failure?"

Within days of speaking out on the backlash against him, Kevin Hart tweeted that he was stepping down from hosting the Academy Awards. However, this time, he actually did apologize to the LGBTQ+ community for his past remarks. "I have made the choice to step down from hosting this year's Oscars," he wrote. "This is because I do not want to be a distraction on a night that should be celebrated by so many amazing talented artists. I sincerely apologize to the LGBTQ community for my insensitive words from my past." In a follow-up tweet, the comedian apologized again, adding, "I am evolving and want to continue to do so. My goal is to bring people together not tear us apart. Much love & appreciation to the Academy. I hope we can meet again."

About a month later, Hart appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, where the titular host asked him to reconsider his stance on emceeing the Oscars; DeGeneres also entreated her audience to forgive Hart for his past comments. He said he'd consider it. A few days later — during which DeGeneres faced backlash of her own for defending Hart – he apologized "once again" to the LGBTQ+ community on his Straight From The Hart radio show (via Billboard). However, Hart added, "If you don't want to accept people for their change, then where are you trying to get to the equal part?"