Actor and Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto has been accused of sexual misconduct by nine women.
According to a new report by Air Mail, over the years, Leto has allegedly engaged in sexually inappropriate behaviour with girls as young as 16.
The following article contains potentially triggering material relating to sexual assault and violence. If you believe you have experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct and are looking for support, consult the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime to find resources in your area.
One of the women told the publication that in 2006 — when she was 16 — Leto had allegedly grabbed her arm after she walked by his table at a cafe in Los Angeles, striking up a brief conversation and asking for her phone number. He allegedly called a few days later to invite her to a party at his house, and she declined the invitation. "I don't know if he was on drugs or what," she told Air Mail. "It was the weirdest, grossest voice… [But] for me, it's Jared, you know?" He apparently continued to call 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?"
Model Laura La Rue told the outlet that she and Leto began communicating in 2008, when she was 16 and he was 36, after he was "watching her so intensely" at a private event in Beverly Hills where they were both in attendance. She visited 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."
Less than a year later, on another visit to his house, La Rue claimed that Leto had 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 for Leto "expressly denied" the allegations, claiming that La Rue had later applied to be his personal assistant. La Rue told Air Mail that she had never applied to work for Leto.
Another of the women who came forward said she began texting Leto when she was underage. She visited his house after she had turned 18, alleging that he "suddenly pulled his penis out and started masturbating." She added, "Then he walked over, grabbed my hand, and put it on him. He leaned in and said: 'I want you to spit on it.'"
Allie Teliz, a Los Angeles-based DJ and producer, shared a 2012 Facebook status on her Instagram Story last month that read, "Youre [sic] not really in L.A. until Jared Leto tries to force himself on you backstage… In a kilt… And a snow hat." As per Air Mail, Teliz wrote in a follow-up post, "I was assaulted and traumatized by that creep when I was 17. He knew my age and didn't care. What he did was predatory, terrifying and unacceptable."
When the series of posts went viral, Teliz shared over 50 responses she received on Instagram (notably only those made by women she said she "personally knows"), many of which echoed the accounts shared by the women Air Mail spoke to. A representative for Leto told the publication, "Ms. Teilz's allegations are demonstrably false."