Jared Leto Faces Sexual Misconduct Allegations From 10 Women in BBC Documentary
Ten women have accused Jared Leto of sexual misconduct in a new BBC documentary, with four alleging conduct that could constitute criminal offenses because they were teenagers at the time of the alleged encounters.
Nine of the women featured in “Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret,” which airs Wednesday, are publicly sharing their accounts for the first time, according to the BBC. The alleged interactions span from 2002 to 2016, when Leto was in his 30s and 40s.
Leto, now 54, has denied the accusations.
“I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life. These claims are absolutely and categorically false,” the Oscar-winning actor and Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman said in a statement provided to Variety through his representatives.
The BBC said it corroborated “a number of the women’s accounts with friends and family who were told about the encounters with Leto at the time.” The broadcaster also said it reviewed photographs and messages that “support the women’s accounts” in some instances.
One woman alleges that Leto repeatedly made sexually explicit phone calls to her when she was 16. She claims that during at least one of those conversations, he suggested that the two of them should have sex. The woman characterized Leto’s alleged behavior toward her as grooming.
According to the documentary, the BBC reviewed a nondisclosure agreement that the woman was later asked to sign to prevent her from discussing her relationship with Leto. She declined to sign it.
A second woman alleges that Leto assaulted her inside the bathroom of a motel when she was 17. She claimed Leto pulled open a shower curtain and began kissing her before taking her hand and using it to masturbate himself.
“I don’t think there was many words exchanged, and he opened the shower curtain and started kissing me,” she said in the documentary.
The woman said she had agreed to meet Leto at the hotel. She alleged that she pulled away during the encounter and told him she wanted to leave. According to Isabel, Leto then wrapped himself in a towel and appeared to check whether anyone was nearby before allowing her to exit what she described as a “dingy gross motel” room.
Another participant claims the actor threatened to sexually assault her inside a hotel room in 2002, when she was 19.
A third woman says she had sex with Leto in California when she was 17, below the state’s age of consent. She alleged that the encounter occurred at Leto’s home. The alleged encounter would consequently be classified as statutory rape. She claims Leto “shrugged off” a discussion about California’s age of consent being 18.
The woman, identified as Clara, said Leto was 34 at the time and that one of her friends waited elsewhere inside the house during the encounter.
“It wasn’t a huge concern for him. He told me, ‘I would like you to call me daddy.’ And it was either pretend to be a little girl or ‘my little girl.’… It was only as time went on that I [realized] more and more how scary that really was.”
Clara described herself at the time as “naive and vulnerable” and said she did not know whether Leto’s alleged behavior was typical in an adult relationship.
“There is no well-adjusted man in his 30s who’s going to look at a teenager and think … she would be a great partner.”
The documentary also includes footage from a 2013 Thirty Seconds to Mars concert at Ex’Pression College in Emeryville, California, during which Leto invited a young woman on stage.
“Give me a hug, first of all,” Leto told her before asking for her name and where she was from. After she said she was from Los Angeles, Leto imitated Matthew McConaughey and quoted a line from the 1993 film “Dazed and Confused”: “That’s what I like about high school girls. I keep getting older, they just stay the same age. Alright, alright, alright.”
Four additional women interviewed for the documentary accuse Leto of placing “strange and often very sexual” phone calls to them when they were younger. Altogether, the documentary includes accounts from 10 women, including the four who allege conduct that may have been criminal.
One of the women said she decided to speak publicly because she believed Leto had avoided accountability for decades. “This was 25 years ago… he has gotten away with it,” she said.
Two men who previously worked with Leto’s band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, were interviewed for the documentary. Both claim that members of the band’s staff felt uneasy about Leto’s alleged interactions with teenage girls.
The men allege that Leto would sometimes invite teenage girls backstage to his dressing room or to the residence where he was recording music. One former worker said the age difference between Leto and the girls caused concern among those around him.
“I think everyone thought the age gap was way too big,” he said.
The BBC said it identified more than 120 separate accusations concerning Leto’s alleged behavior toward women while researching the documentary. Many had appeared online, and some dated back years.
The accusations presented in “Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret,” which is being sold internationally by BBC Studios, follow earlier public claims concerning the actor’s behavior.
In 2025, Los Angeles DJ Allie Teilz accused Leto of sexual misconduct, alleging that he assaulted and traumatized her when she was 17. Her accusations prompted other women to come forward with similar accounts.
A month before the Air Mail report was published, Teilz reposted a Facebook status she had originally shared in 2012. “You’re [sic] not really in L.A. until Jared Leto tries to force himself on you backstage… In a kilt.. And a snow hat,” the post read.
Teilz also wrote on Instagram: “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.”
A June 2025 report published by Air Mail subsequently detailed accusations from nine women who alleged that Leto had engaged in inappropriate behavior over a period of years. Leto also denied those allegations. His representatives described the claims at the time as “demonstrably false.”
Moumita Basuroychowdhury is a Contributing Reporter at The National Digest. After earning an economics degree at Cornell University, she moved to NYC to pursue her MFA in creative writing. She enjoys reporting on science, business and culture news. You can reach her at moumita.b@thenationaldigest.com.
