Oscar-winning actor and Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto has been accused of criminal sexual conduct by four women, who allege the incidents took place when they were teenagers.
According to a BBC investigation, one woman alleged that Leto sexually assaulted her in a motel bathroom when she was 17. Another claimed he threatened her with sexual assault when she was 19 after she was unexpectedly left alone with him in a hotel room.
A third woman alleged she had sex with Leto when she was 17 in California, an act she said amounted to statutory rape because the age of consent in the state is 18. She claimed Leto dismissed concerns after the issue of the age of consent was raised.
A fourth woman accused the actor of grooming her when she was 16. She alleged he used his celebrity status to make repeated sexually explicit telephone calls and, on at least one occasion, suggested they have sex. She also said she later received a non-disclosure agreement intended to prevent her from speaking publicly about their relationship. The BBC reported that it had seen the document, but she refused to sign it.
The broadcaster also reported that four other women said they received unusual and often sexually explicit telephone calls from Leto when they were younger.
Another woman alleged that when she was 14, Leto instructed a security guard to take her backstage at a music festival after making a lewd remark about her chest during an autograph signing. She claimed her mother confronted the actor, but he repeated the comment.
In total, 10 women spoke to the BBC documentary Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret, with nine sharing their allegations publicly for the first time. All said they encountered Leto between 2002 and 2016, when he was in his 30s and 40s. He is now 54.
One of the women said, “This was 25 years ago… he has gotten away with it.”
The BBC said it corroborated parts of several women’s accounts through friends and family members they had confided in at the time. It also reviewed photographs and messages that it said supported some of the allegations.
Two former employees of Thirty Seconds to Mars also told the documentary they felt uncomfortable with the way Leto allegedly interacted with teenage girls. They claimed he sometimes invited them backstage to his dressing room or to the house where the band was recording. One of the former staff members said, “I think everyone thought the age gap was way too big.”
The BBC said it repeatedly contacted Leto about the allegations, but he did not respond.
Leto rose to prominence as an actor in the 1990s and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2014 for Dallas Buyers Club. He has also appeared in Fight Club, Blade Runner 2049, Suicide Squad and, most recently, Masters of the Universe. His band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, formed in 1998 and is scheduled to tour mainland Europe and the UK next spring, including concerts at London’s O2 Arena and Manchester’s Co-op Live.
The BBC reported that allegations concerning Leto’s behaviour towards women have circulated for decades and said it identified more than 120 separate allegations posted online.
The report also noted that allegations resurfaced last year after Los Angeles DJ Allie Teilz claimed on social media that Leto assaulted her when she was 17, prompting several other women to come forward with similar claims.
Last year, nine women also accused Leto of sexual impropriety in a report published by US media outlet Air Mail. Leto denied those allegations.
