Four women have accused Oscar-winning actor Jared Leto, lead singer of rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars, of criminal sexual conduct, with incidents happening when they were minors, according to a BBC investigation that aired on Wednesday.
The BBC reveals the allegations in the documentary titled Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret. According to the documentary, ten women accuse Leto of misconduct, and nine of them share their stories for the first time.
According to the BBC, one of the women, referred to in the movie as 54-year-old Leto, claims that she was raped in a motel bathroom when she was 17. Another one says she was threatened with sexual abuse when she was 19. The third woman says that she had sex with Leto in California when she was 17, just under the age of consent in the state of 18 years old. Leto is described as shrugging off the discussion of age of consent.
The fourth woman says Leto kept calling her over the phone with explicit sexual suggestions when she was 16, including at least once suggesting to have sex. Another four women say they got strange phone calls with Leto on the other end, with sexual undertones, when they were young.
According to Deadline, one of the accusers, using the name of Isabel, says that she was raped by Leto in a motel bathroom in Las Vegas when she was 17 and Leto was in his 30s.
All these events happened between 2002 and 2016, when Leto was in his 30s and 40s. “This was 25 years ago … he has gotten away with it,” said one of the alleged victims in the documentary.
According to the BBC, the reporting is corroborated by friends and relatives of the women who knew about these encounters, as well as by photos and messages that support their accounts.
Two men working with Leto’s band said that everyone working with them felt uncomfortable with the way Leto behaved around teenage girls, noting that he used to invite them to his dressing room backstage and to his house, where he was recording. “I think everyone thought the age gap was way too big,” one of them said.
Leto has not responded to the BBC’s requests for comment. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter and Variety, his representatives did not respond to any requests for comment at the time of publication. Leto is not being charged for any crime, and the allegations are yet to be proved.
This documentary adds to earlier reporting about the case. According to Air Mail magazine, nine women accused Leto of inappropriately behaving towards them last year. The story was initiated by Los Angeles DJ Allie Teilz posting a screenshot on Instagram of Leto’s Facebook post, claiming that he wanted to force himself on her backstage at one of the concerts. Teilz said that she was assaulted and traumatized at the age of 17. This post prompted other women to share their experiences, which led to an Air Mail article accusing Leto of inappropriate behavior. At the time, Leto’s representatives “expressly denied” the accusations, saying that Teilz’s claims were “demonstrably false.”
Laura La Rue, a model, said in the article that Leto approached her at a California benefit in 2008, asked for her phone number, and when she told him that she was 16 years old. Representatives of Leto told Air Mail that their communications contained “nothing sexual or inappropriate” and that La Rue had applied to become Leto’s personal assistant. But according to La Rue, she never applied to be his assistant.
The list of Leto’s works includes the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Dallas Buyers Club as well as performances in Fight Club, Blade Runner 2049, and Suicide Squad. He still performs with Thirty Seconds to Mars.
Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret is available on BBC iPlayer and airs on Wednesday on BBC Three and BBC One.
