Actor and musician Jared Leto is facing allegations of impropriety from nine women, some of whom described the 53-year-old’s behaviour as “predatory, terrifying and unacceptable”.
A new report by Air Mail on Saturday revealed nine women accuse Leto of inappropriate behaviour over a number of years, including alleged sexual advances towards teenagers.
One woman who spoke to the outlet said she was 16 when Leto approached her outside a Los Angeles café in 2006.
She claimed he was sitting with actor Ashley Olsen, then 19, and grabbed her arm.
She says “I looked down and it was Jared Leto,” she told Air Mail, adding: “We had a quick conversation, and he got my number.”
She said Leto later called her home and described the call: “I don’t know if he was on drugs or what … It was the weirdest, grossest voice … [But] for me, it’s Jared, you know?”
According to the woman, Leto invited her to a party that night but she declined. She recalls: “I didn’t even have a driver’s licence.”
She said he continued to call her in the early hours and conversations soon became sexual: “He’d ask things like: ‘Have you ever had a boyfriend? Have you ever sucked a dick?’”
Model Laura La Rue also shared her experience, saying she met Leto at a Beverly Hills event in 2008 when she was 16: “He asked how old I was. I said, ‘I’m 16. How old are you?’”
She said Leto, then 36, asked for her number, and the pair began corresponding by email, eventually leading to a visit to his home.
She says: “I remember him teasing me the whole time I was there,” she said. “He was flirting with me. He’d lean in close, then pull away, like it was a game.”
In a statement to Air Mail, a spokesperson for Leto said the star denied any wrongdoing.
Addressing the allegations by Ms La Rue, they said: “Their communications contain nothing sexual or inappropriate … and Ms La Rue later applied to work as Mr Leto’s personal assistant, further underscoring the absence of anything inappropriate in any of their interactions.”
However, the report states La Rue denied ever applying for such a role. She also told the outlet that, during a later visit at age 17, Leto 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.”
Another woman alleged she began texting Leto while underage and described increasingly inappropriate exchanges. She said that when she was 18, Leto exposed himself and forced her into unwanted sexual contact. She says: “Then he walked over, grabbed my hand, and put it on him. He leaned in and said: ‘I want you to spit on it.’”
Los Angeles-based DJ and producer Allie Teilz also shared her story. According to Air Mail, she recently reposted a 2012 Facebook status in which she wrote:
“Youre [sic] not really in L.A. until Jared Leto tries to force himself on you backstage… In a kilt.. And a snow hat.”
In her Instagram stories, reviewed by Air Mail, Teilz said: “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.”
Leto’s representative has “expressly denied” all allegations outlined in the report, including Teilz’s, calling them “demonstrably false”.
