Jared Leto is facing a growing wave of sexual misconduct allegations spanning more than two decades, with a new BBC documentary releasing bombshell accusations this week and resurfacing earlier claims that detail a pattern of inappropriate behavior toward women, many of them underage at the time.
The latest allegations come as part of a broader reckoning with the Oscar-winning actor and Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman. The BBC documentary “Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret” aired Wednesday with testimony from ten women detailing encounters between 2002 and 2016, when Leto was in his 30s and early 40s. Four of the women specifically described what the BBC characterizes as criminal sexual conduct. The documentary features nine women publicly recounting their experiences for the first time.
One woman alleged she was sexually assaulted by Leto in a motel bathroom when she was 17 years old. Another accused him of statutory rape, saying she was also 17 when they had sexual contact in California, where the age of consent is 18. A third woman claimed Leto threatened her with sexual assault when she was 19 and she was alone with him in a hotel room. A fourth woman accused him of grooming her when she was 16, using his celebrity status to make sexually explicit phone calls.
Leto has categorically denied the allegations. “I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life. These claims are absolutely and categorically false,” he said in a statement released Wednesday in response to the documentary.
The current wave of allegations builds on accusations that surfaced earlier. In June 2025, Air Mail published an investigation featuring nine women who accused Leto of sexual impropriety. That story included detailed accounts of inappropriate behavior spanning the early 2000s. Model Laura La Rue, who was 16 when she met Leto in 2008, described receiving invitations to visit his music studio after he asked for her phone number. She claimed that during a visit when she was 17, Leto walked out of a room completely nude in front of her.
Another woman told Air Mail that she was 16 when Leto obtained her phone number and began calling her late at night with increasingly sexual conversations. The calls continued over several weeks, often coming at 1, 2, or 3 a.m., with Leto asking inappropriate questions about her sexual experiences. The woman said his behavior terrified her and that she was in rehab when the calls occurred.
One unnamed accuser claimed she began texting with Leto while underage. She alleged that after she turned 18, during a visit to his home, he “suddenly pulled his penis out and started masturbating” and then “grabbed my hand, and put it on him.”
Now, new allegations have surfaced regarding Leto’s interaction with a bartender. Gracelisa Akers, who was 25 years old, was working behind the bar at The Orbit Room in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in April 2011 when Leto’s band performed. According to Akers, Leto sent a representative to invite her to a party in his dressing room. When she went upstairs, she said Leto became physically aggressive. “His hands were all over me, and he got more irritated,” she told reporters. “He was trying to pull me towards him and he was so close I could smell his breath.”
Akers said she made clear she was not interested and attempted to leave. She claimed Leto followed her out to her car and cornered her as she tried to get in. After the encounter, she said Leto bombarded her with text messages and sent her a near-naked selfie, a photograph showing him from roughly the neck down with minimal clothing.
A representative for Leto has denied those allegations as well, along with all other claims made in both the Air Mail investigation and the BBC documentary.
Historical allegations dating back to 2005 add another layer to the pattern of accusations. A New York Post article from that year contained allegations that Leto had approached teenage and underage girls at a New York hotel and exchanged text messages with them. The article specifically noted that sources said he had been “aggressively pursuing” teen models at the time.
Multiple sources describing the allegations have noted that they represent what appears to be an established pattern. One woman told Air Mail that it had long been “an open secret” among models and industry insiders that Leto was known for texting teenage girls. The BBC said it identified more than 120 allegations posted online relating to behavior women said they witnessed, experienced, or heard about involving Leto, with some dating to the early 2000s.
Despite the extensive allegations, Leto’s career has continued. His band is scheduled to tour Europe and the UK starting in April 2027. His recent film credits include “Tron: Ares,” released in 2025, and “Masters of the Universe.” He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 2014 for his role as a transgender woman with HIV in “Dallas Buyers Club.”
Leto’s team has maintained that he has not had a drink or used drugs in over 35 years and continues to deny all allegations as “demonstrably false.” However, the accumulating testimonies from women across nearly two decades paint a picture of sustained inappropriate conduct that his representatives have consistently rejected.