Hollywood actor Jared Leto is under scrutiny following a report by Air Mail on June 7 in which nine women accused the 53-year-old of inappropriate conduct, including with underage girls. The allegations span more than a decade and describe a pattern of alleged misconduct.
According to the Air Mail article, several women said Leto behaved with them inappropriately when they were teenagers. One anonymous accuser said, “It’s been an open secret for a long time.” Among the other claims, Leto supposedly asked sexual questions of a 16-year-old girl, exposed himself and once walked nude from a room in front of a 17-year-old.
Model Laura La Rue, who was 16 in 2008, told Air Mail she met Leto at an animal rights benefit that year and later visited his studio in April 2009. La Rue recalled Leto “flirting” with her during that visit and, at age 17, allegedly exposing himself casually. “I thought maybe this was just what adult men do,” she said. Leto’s representatives dispute her account, stating the email exchanges contained “nothing sexual or inappropriate” and noting that La Rue “later applied to work as Leto’s personal assistant”, which she denies.
Another woman, who says she was 16 in 2008, described meeting Leto in a Los Angeles café and giving him her number. She alleges he called her home in the middle of the night “with the weirdest, grossest voice” and speculated he might have been “on drugs”.
In response to Air Mail, a representative for Leto denied all allegations, telling People magazine that the claims are unsubstantiated. “He has never engaged in any inappropriate conduct with any minor,” the statement read, adding that Leto “takes such concerns very seriously” and “is confident that an objective investigation will clear his name”. No legal action has been announced at the time of reporting this news.