Nine women have accused Jared Leto of sexual misconduct. The film actor and 30 Seconds To Mars singer allegedly engaged in inappropriate sexual behavior over the years with girls as young as 16, according to a new report by Air Mail.
One woman told Air Mail that when she was 16 in 2006, she walked past Leto's table at a cafe in Los Angeles. Leto allegedly grabbed her arm and struck up a brief conversation with her before getting her phone number. The woman said he called a few days later to invite her to a party at his house, which she declined. "I don’t know if he was on drugs or what," the woman told the outlet. "It was the weirdest, grossest voice... [But] for me, it’s Jared, you know?” The woman said Leto would continue calling her "always at one, two, three AM," and would ask sexual questions like: "Have you ever had a boyfriend? Have you ever sucked a dick?"
The model Laura La Rue told Air Mail that in 2008 when she was 16 and Leto was 36, she was at a private event at someone's Beverly Hills house where Leto was also in attendance and "watching her so intensely." La Rue said he eventually asked for her number and they began communicating. She said she eventually did visit Leto’s home for the first time in April 2009. "I remember him teasing me the whole time I was there,” La Rue said. "He was flirting with me. He’d lean in close, then pull away, like it was a game." On another visit to his house less than a year later, La Rue said Leto walked out of a room completely naked. "He just walked out, dick out, like it was normal...I thought maybe this was just what adult men do."
A representative of Leto "expressly denied" the allegations, saying that La Rue later applied to work as Leto’s personal assistant. La Rue told Air Mail she never applied to work for Leto.
Another woman who spoke to Air Mail said that when she was underage, she began texting with Leto before visiting his house when she was 18. She said Leto "suddenly pulled his penis out and started masturbating," adding: "Then he walked over, grabbed my hand, and put it on him. He leaned in and said: 'I want you to spit on it.'"
Last month, the Los Angeles-based DJ and producer Allie Teilz reposted on her Instagram story a 2012 Facebook status where she wrote: "You're not really in L.A. until Jared Leto tries to force himself on you backstage... In a kilt... And a snow hat." According to Air Mail, her Instagram stories continued with Teilz writing: "I was assaulted and traumatized by this creep when I was 17... He knew my age and didn’t care. What he did was predatory, terrifying and unacceptable."
Thirty Seconds To Mars are scheduled to launch a tour in Kazakhstan later this month and Leto is in the cast of Disney’s Tron: Ares opening this fall.
If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual violence, call the 24-hour National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (1-800-656-4673), or visit Rainn.org.
