Jared Leto has been accused of criminal sexual conduct by four women, who claim the offenses occurred when they were teenagers.
In a new BBC documentary “Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret” — airing Wednesday — a total of 10 women come forward with allegations against Leto, nine of whom the BBC says are sharing their stories for the first time.
One of the women accuses the Oscar winner of sexually assaulting her in a motel bathroom when she was 17. Another claims Leto threatened her with sexual assault when she was 19. A third in the doc describes how she allegedly had sex with Leto in California when she was 17, under the age of consent, which therefore would be classified as statutory rape. She claims the actor “shrugged off” a conversation about the age of consent being 18 in the state.
Meanwhile, a fourth women alleges Leto made repeated sexually explicit phone calls to her when she was 16 and, on at least one occasion, he suggested that they should have sex.
In the doc, the BBC says that it has seen an NDA that the fourth woman was asked to sign to stop her from discussing her relationship with Leto. She refused to sign the NDA.
Four other women accuse Leto of making “strange and often very sexual” phone calls to them when they were younger.
All the women that feature in “Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret” claim the interactions occurred between 2002 and 2016, when the actor, now 54, was in his 30s and 40s.
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One of the alleged victims said: “This was 25 years ago… he has gotten away with it.”
According to the BBC, it has corroborated “a number of the women’s accounts with friends and family who were told about the encounters with Leto at the time.” It says that, in some cases, it has also seen pictures and messages that “support the women’s accounts.”
Two men who worked with Leto’s band Thirty Seconds to Mars also spoke to the documentary and claimed staff felt uncomfortable about the way Leto would interact with teenage girls. They alleged he would sometimes invite them backstage to his dressing room or to the house where he was recording.
“I think everyone thought the age gap was way too big,” said one.
Variety has reached out to Leto’s reps for comment.
From Variety US