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Jonathan Majors’s Little Cup Is for More Than Just Hydration

Photo: Nina Westervelt/Variety via Getty Images

Jonathan Majors really loves his mugs. He sneaks them into the Whitney Museum (as he did during his Cut Dream Date), he sips from them on the street, and he brings them along for talk shows (sets famous for providing guests with their very own branded mugs). But the practical accessory is for more than just holding liquids.

“I’m 33 years old. I’ve been doing this since I left my mother’s house, when I was around 18,” he said during an appearance on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. “She didn’t give me a cup, but she gave me a word of advice because she was so terrified of the circus that I’ve joined.” Majors went on to explain that his mother didn’t have a lot of faith in show business and was very concerned with his safety and would tell him, “No drinking, no drugs, no sex,” every time he left her sight — even when he boarded the plane to college. “Baby, just make sure you watch your cup,” she would say. “And I kept that in mind for safety and also what that meant.”

While it might have started as a standard college-party rule, the idea of minding his cup has since evolved into something with a deeper meaning. “Now it means mind your cup — you’re a vessel. Nobody can fill you up; nobody can pour you out. You do that yourself,” he said. “Holding on to this is a reminder that even in this craziness that is happening, my self-esteem is my self-esteem. Nobody can big me up, as it were, or tear me down.”

Some version of Majors’s little cup has gone everywhere with him. He told Colbert that he has four of them that he uses “in rotation”: three with handles, one without — naturally. (He brought one with a handle to The Late Show, in case you were wondering.) As for what he is sipping from that cup, he previously told Vanity Fair, “My cup holds water — it’s never alcohol,” adding, “It’s important to stay hydrated.” Majors will also fill his cup with tea, as he did on Good Morning America earlier this week, or coffee. No word on whether he employs his mugs for smoothies, juices, or soups.

Jonathan Majors’s Little Cup Is for More Than Just Hydration