A major BBC investigation has presented a series of serious sexual misconduct allegations against Oscar-winning actor and musician Jared Leto, the 54-year-old frontman of Thirty Seconds to Mars. The investigation accompanies the documentary Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret and features accounts from 10 women, nine of whom speak publicly on camera for the first time.
According to the documentary, the women’s accounts describe an alleged pattern of predatory behavior between 2002 and 2016, when Leto was in his 30s and 40s, involving young women and teenage girls.
Leto has previously categorically denied sexual misconduct allegations published about him by Air Mail. As of publication, neither he nor his representatives had responded to the new allegations presented by the BBC.
Four women featured in the investigation describe incidents that they say may amount to criminal sexual conduct. One woman, identified as Isabel, said Leto invited her to meet him at a run-down motel in 2002, when she was 17.
According to her account, Leto called her into the bathroom while he was showering, opened the curtain, forcibly kissed her and compelled her to perform a sexual act on him. She said the alleged incident left her traumatized and that she blamed herself for years afterward.
Another woman, a former model identified as Alex, described an alleged incident in London in 2013, when she was 19. She said Leto’s personal assistant brought her under false pretenses to a dark hotel room, where she discovered she was alone with him.
After realizing she had no way to return home, Alex said she asked whether she could sleep on the sofa. According to her account, Leto responded with an explicit threat that she would be sexually and anally assaulted during the night if she remained there. She said she fled the hotel in fear.
A third woman, identified as Clara, said she had sex with Leto at his California home when she was 17, below the state’s age of consent. She alleged that Leto instructed her to behave like a “little girl” and call him “Daddy.” When she raised the issue of the legal age of consent, she said, he dismissed her concerns.
The BBC investigation also examines what it describes as alleged attempts to prevent young women from speaking publicly about their interactions with Leto. A woman identified as Etta said Leto began having highly sexual phone conversations with her when she was 16 and proposed that they have sex.
Two years later, in 2016, she said Leto contacted her and claimed his lawyers were concerned, asking her to sign a sweeping nondisclosure agreement that would prevent her from ever discussing their relationship. Etta refused to sign. The BBC said it authenticated and displayed draft documents that had been sent to her at the time.
Another woman, Taylor, said she attended a music festival event with her mother when she was 14 and encountered Leto there. According to her account, Leto signed her shirt directly over her chest, made an explicit sexual remark and instructed his security personnel to take her backstage. Taylor said her mother confronted him at the scene, but he ignored her.
Thirty Seconds to Mars
(Photo: Direct Group Saudi Arabia / Stringer Getty Images)
The BBC also interviewed two former employees who worked with Leto’s band. They said staff members felt deeply uncomfortable and alleged that Leto directly instructed them to contact local modeling agencies and distribute free VIP passes exclusively to young women and teenage girls.
The purpose, they claimed, was to bring the women into his dressing room or to the house where the band was recording.
According to the BBC investigation, the latest allegations join more than 120 claims that have been published online about the actor over the years. Last year, the internet erupted after DJ Allie Teilz accused him of sexually assaulting her when she was 17.
Soon afterward, the American magazine Air Mail published an investigation titled “The Cult of Leto,” in which nine other women accused him of predatory sexual behavior. Leto, who won an Academy Award for his performance in Dallas Buyers Club and has starred in major Hollywood productions, previously categorically denied all the allegations published by Air Mail. As of publication, however, neither Leto nor his representatives had responded to the new and serious allegations presented by the BBC.