Four women have accused Oscar-winning actor and Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto of criminal sexual conduct, with the alleged offenses taking place when they were teenagers between 2002 and 2016. The accusations are featured in a new BBC documentary, Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret.
The allegations against the 54-year-old musician and actor emerge as part of an investigation published by the BBC, which features accounts from 10 women in total, with nine speaking publicly for the first time. The reported encounters span a 14-year period when Leto was in his 30s and 40s. While online allegations concerning Leto’s interactions with young women have circulated for years, the new documentary brings forth specific criminal allegations from multiple individuals who were minors or young adults at the time.
Specific Allegations of Assault, Statutory Rape, and Grooming
The documentary details several distinct accounts from the women involved. One woman alleges that she was sexually assaulted in a motel bathroom at age 17. Another claims she was threatened with sexual assault at age 19 after being unexpectedly left alone in a hotel room with Leto, who allegedly told her she would wake up with a d**k in her ass if she tried to sleep on a chaise longue.
A third woman describes having underage sex with the performer in California when she was 17, which constitutes statutory rape under state law. According to her account, Leto “shrugged off” concerns regarding the age of consent being 18 in California, telling her I would like you to call me daddy
during the visits to his house.
A fourth woman states she was groomed by Leto starting when she was 16, alleging that he used his celebrity status to place repeated sexually explicit phone calls to her and suggest they have sex. She was subsequently sent a non-disclosure agreement to prevent her from discussing the relationship, which she refused to sign.
Additional accounts in the documentary include a woman who alleges that at age 14, Leto made a lewd comment about her chest during an autograph signing and instructed a security guard to bring her backstage, a comment he allegedly repeated when confronted by the girl’s mother. Four other women also reported receiving explicit sexual phone calls from Leto when they were younger.
Crew Members and Prior Scrutiny
The documentary also features interviews with two former crew members who worked with Thirty Seconds to Mars, the rock band Leto formed with his brother Shannon Leto in 1998. Both crew members stated that staff members felt uncomfortable with the frequency with which teenage girls and young women were brought into the band’s orbit, including invitations to dressing rooms and recording properties.
The new wave of public accusations follows previous reporting. Last year, a Los Angeles DJ named Allie Teilz stated she had been assaulted by the actor when she was 17, prompting several other women to come forward with similar claims of sexual impropriety. Earlier scrutiny included a 2005 newsweek.com containing allegations that Leto had approached teenage girls at a New York hotel.
Response and Corroborating Evidence
The BBC reported that it corroborated several of the women’s accounts through friends and family members who had been told about the encounters at the time, alongside photographs and messages supporting the claims.
Leto has not responded directly to the allegations presented in the new documentary. Representatives for the actor and musician have denied allegations in connection with previous reports, but have not yet issued a public statement addressing the specific accounts detailed in the current BBC broadcast.
