Cuba Gooding Jr. is an American actor, best known for playing in the movie Jerry Maguire and the prominent actor Tom Cruise for which he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.
He was born on 2 January 1968, in Bronx, New York, USA, to Shirley Sullivan, a singer, and Cuba Gooding Sr., who was a former lead vocalist of soul group The Main Ingredient. He has three siblings; April, Omar, and Thomas.
The 53-year-old actor’s father later left his family and was raised by his mother alone. Eventually, he followed his parents’ footsteps to climb the path to stardom and become a prominent personality in the entertainment industry.
Cuba Gooding Jr. Defeated In The Lawsuit Against Him For Groping A Woman
The accuser female bartender named Natasha Ashworth, who sued the actor Cuba Gooding Jr. in 2019, claiming that he repeatedly groped her backside at Tao Downtown, the New York nightclub where she worked, has won a default judgment against him after he refused to respond to her lawsuit for over a year.
Surveillance footage of Cuba Gooding Jr. groping waitress (©: Daily Mail)
Gooding refused to answer her complaint for over a year, and Ashworth ultimately filed for a default judgment against him at the beginning of 2021.
Manhattan Supreme Court judge granted Ashworth’s request for a default judgment, as the actor refused to hire a lawyer or file any court papers to defend himself on 2 June 2021. The judgment was for Ashworth’s civil claims of assault and battery, but Justice Alexander Tisch denied a default judgment for infliction of emotional distress, citing its redundancy.
The judgment will allow for a trial to determine potential monetary damages Ashworth may be awarded in the case.
According to Page Six, Mark Heller, representing Gooding in the criminal case, said the claim is “baseless, and the judgment is worthless.”
Prior to this case, Gooding was accused, in August 2020, by another woman of twice raping her in a Soho hotel room in 2013. He was also arrested in June 2019 for allegedly grabbing a 30-year-old woman’s breast inside the Magic Hour Rooftop Bar and Lounge in the Moxy Times Square hotel on June 9.
Meanwhile, Gooding seems to deny any of the accusations.
Net Worth And Career Of Cuba Gooding Jr.
Cuba Gooding Jr. has accumulated a huge amount of wealth from works in his professional career. He is said to have an estimated net worth of $14 million. As for his earnings, he got $600,000 as a salary for his work on film Jerry Maguire, $1 million for What Dreams May Come, and more than $2 million for Instinct.
Gooding Jr. initially stepped into the showbiz world as a breakdancer performing with Lionel Richie at the closing ceremonies of the Summer Olympics at 16-year-old. He then focused on his studies and Japanese martial arts until his high school graduation, and later in the 80s, and he chose to pursue acting as his career.
He had small roles, and guest appearances in Hill Street Blues in 1981 and 1988’s Coming to America. And later, in 1991, he got his big breakthrough from the crime drama movie Boyz n the Hood, where he played the lead character, Tre Styles. He also starred in sports comedy and blockbuster hit Jerry Maguire in 1996, for which he won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.
He mainly ventures his wealth from his works on movies and televisions. He has appeared in small and big roles over the decades of his career, including some movies like A Few Good Men, Lightning Jack, Outbreak, World War II, Men of Honor, Radio, Gladiator, Life in a Year, Red Tails, and many more.
In addition to his appearance in movies, he has also been featured in TV shows, including American Horror Story, American Crime Story, Empire, The Book of Negroes, and such. In 2006, he collaborated with Angela Bassett and Samuel L. Jackson to release a book titled The Bible Experience: A Dramatic Audio Bible Performed by 400 of Today’s Biggest Stars.
Cuba Gooding Jr. Was Divorced By Then Wife Sara Kapfer After 20 Years Married Life
Cuba Gooding Jr. married his high school sweetheart, Sara Kapfer, in 1994 and later split in April of 2014 as per the court papers filed by Sara in August of 2014.
They first met in 1986 while they were both attending North Hollywood High School – they moved in together upon matriculating and eventually married seven years later in 1994. Prior to her marriage, she launched her career as a teacher in 1991, when she began working in an elementary school in Los Angeles. She worked as a teacher until 1994 until she gave birth to her first child and became a housewife.
Unfortunately, Cuba and Sara’s relationship didn’t last as they parted ways in 2014, and Cuba Jr. later filed for divorce in 2017, asking for joint custody of their young daughter, Piper.
The former couple dated for seven years before making it official. Gooding Jr. once said in an interview that Sara was a teacher’s aide. He said: “Now that I’m this so-called big star, everybody expects to be with some model… But Sara was there before the hype.”
A month after their 20th anniversary, Sara filed for divorce in August 2014, to which Cuba Jr. did not give his consent until 2017. Sara filed for divorce after finding out about her husband’s infidelity, as several women stated how Cuba Jr would get drunk, use drugs, and then invite them to the hotel room he would rent while filming a movie.
After Sara made her intentions in 2014, Gooding told Steve Harvey in an interview that he was still married, but they were going through rocky times.
In his 2017 response to the divorce filing from his wife, Gooding Jr requested a joint and physical custody arrangement over their youngest child agreeing to pay spousal support. Meanwhile, before their divorce was finalized, the two dated on and off.
They have three children together; Mason, Spencer, and Piper Gooding. His eldest kid, Mason has also been following father’s footstep of being an actor.
Gooding Jr was later spotted with Claudine De Niro, the estranged wife of Robert De Niro’s son, Raphael. In March 2019, one source told Page Six that they were only “hooking up,” while another source who dined at the same Miami restaurant they were at said that they “looked to be very much a couple.”
Both of their divorce proceedings were ongoing at the time. But, they may not seem to be in a romantic relationship as they have not been spotted together after that time, or rather they are keeping it a secret.