Actor and singer Jared Leto has been accused of sexual misconduct by four women who were teenagers at the time of the alleged incidents, according to a BBC documentary.
One woman, identified as Etta, told the BBC that she met Leto in 2014 when she was 16 and he was 42. She stated that their phone conversations quickly shifted from industry talk to discussions about sex. Another woman, Isabel, reported meeting Leto in a Las Vegas mall in 2002 when she was 17 and he was 30. She alleged that he invited her to his hotel, where he then began kissing her and used her hand to touch himself.
Isabel told the BBC that alarms went off in her head, and she decided to leave. Upon returning home, she looked up Leto's age and discovered he was in his early 30s.
Another woman claimed she had sex with Leto when she was 17 and that he dismissed a conversation about the age of consent. A fourth woman alleged that Leto threatened her with sexual assault when she was 19. The BBC also reported that four other women stated they received "strange and often very sexual phone calls" from the actor.
In response to the allegations, Leto issued a statement to HuffPost, saying, "I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life. These claims are absolutely and categorically false."
Simon, who worked with Leto's band 30 Seconds to Mars for a decade, told the BBC that he witnessed Leto inviting young girls to a house where the band was recording. He recalled one instance where a girl's parents dropped her off, and she went to a bedroom with Leto. Simon stated that when they returned, there was a feeling of shame and embarrassment.
A total of 10 women shared their experiences with the BBC, with nine of them speaking about their allegations for the first time. This follows a report from Air Mail published about a year ago, which featured nine women accusing Leto of sexual misconduct dating back to 2006. Leto, now 54, denied those allegations at the time.