Jared Leto denies sexual assault allegations as BBC documentary details claims from 10 women

The documentary

The BBC released "Jared Leto: Hollywood's Dark Secret" on 29 July 2026, a documentary featuring accounts from 10 women who allege sexual misconduct by the Oscar-winning actor and Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman. Nine of the women spoke publicly for the first time. Four of them accuse Leto of criminal sexual conduct, while others describe inappropriate behavior including sexually explicit phone calls and a backstage incident involving a 14-year-old. The BBC said it had corroborated a number of the women's accounts with friends and family who were told at the time, and in some cases had seen pictures and messages supporting the claims.

“I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life. These claims are absolutely and categorically false.”

The allegations

The most serious accusations involve encounters between 2002 and 2016, when Leto was in his 30s and 40s and the women were teenagers. A woman using the pseudonym Isabel alleged that Leto sexually assaulted her in a Las Vegas motel bathroom in 2002 when she was 17. Another, identified as Alex, said Leto threatened her with sexual assault when she was 19 after she walked into a hotel room expecting an after-party and found herself alone with him. A third woman said she had underage sex with Leto in California when she was 17, which would be classified as statutory rape. A fourth said Leto made sexually explicit phone calls to her when she was 16, at one point suggesting they have sex and later sending her a non-disclosure agreement she refused to sign.

“He told me, 'I would like you to call me daddy.' And it was either 'pretend to be a little girl' or 'my little girl'.”

Four other women described receiving "strange and often very sexual phone calls" from Leto, the BBC reported. Another woman, named Taylor, said that when she was 14, Leto made a lewd comment about her chest during an autograph signing at a music festival and instructed a security guard to take her backstage; her mother confronted him. Two former members of Thirty Seconds to Mars' crew told the BBC they had been uncomfortable with what they described as Leto's interactions with teenage girls backstage and at recording locations.

“This was 25 years ago... he has gotten away with it.”

Criminal sexual conduct4

Explicit phone calls4

Backstage incident at 141

Criminal sexual conduct

4 women

Explicit phone calls

4 women

Backstage incident at 14

1 women

Data from the article text

Industry reaction and MeToo

Director Alice McShane told Variety that it was a "mystery" why Leto's career had not been impacted by repeated accusations. She suggested that "pretty privilege" and his cultivated enigmatic persona had shielded him, and that outrage over such stories had cooled a decade after #MeToo. Executive producer Mike Radford called the case a bellwether for the movement.

“The Jared Leto case is a bellwether on where we are on the MeToo movement. There has been a lot of pushback in that area, and how the industry responds to the allegations about Jared Leto will tell us where the industry -- both music and film -- stands when serious allegations are made against one of their most powerful people.”

Producer Jessica Sartenaer noted that the BBC had counted 120 separate accusations online relating to Leto's behavior toward women. "I feel like it will be very difficult for him to ride this one out," she told Deadline, though she acknowledged his music career might be separate, with diehard Thirty Seconds to Mars fans still supporting him.

Leto's response and career

Leto issued his denial in a statement sent to The Hollywood Reporter. The allegations first surfaced publicly in 2025 when Los Angeles DJ Allie Teilz posted on Instagram accusing him of assault, followed by an Air Mail article in which nine women alleged sexual impropriety. Leto denied those claims as well. He subsequently promoted Disney's "Tron: Ares" but was absent from the publicity campaign for Amazon's "Masters of the Universe," skipping the premiere. Thirty Seconds to Mars is scheduled to tour next year.