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By Matthew Robinson, Alice Gibbs, Hannah Parry, and Joshua Rhett Miller
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Actor and singer Jared Leto has denied claims he sexually assaulted multiple women after a new documentary features several accusing him of criminal sexual misconduct.
"I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life," Leto, 54, told Newsweek on Wednesday. "These claims are absolutely and categorically false."
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In the BBC documentary, Jared Leto: Hollywood's Dark Secret, one woman alleged she was sexually assaulted by Leto in a motel at the age of 17.
Another woman also said she was 17 when she allegedly had sex with Leto in California, where the age of consent is 18. She also alleged that when the issue of age was raised, Leto dismissed concerns about it.
A third woman accused the actor of threatening her with sexual assault when she was 19 after she was left alone in a hotel room with him.
A fourth woman alleged Leto groomed her when she was 16, accusing the actor of using his celebrity status to make sexually explicit calls, and suggest that they have sex on at least one occasion.
Neama Rahmani, president of West Coast Trial Lawyers and former federal prosecutor, said Leto could face charges of sexual assault, sexual abuse and statutory rape.
"The biggest legal hurdle is the statute of limitations," Rahmani told Newsweek in a message Wednesday. "California currently has no criminal statute of limitations for serious sex crimes like felony or aggravated child sexual assault, but that only applies to offenses on or after 2017 or for which the statute of limitations had not yet expired. Historically many felony sex crimes had a 3- or 6-year statute of limitations."
Nevada likewise changed the criminal statute of limitations for rape charges in 2015 from four years to 20 years, but it can be extended if the victim files a police report, Rahmani said.
"Leto needs to be careful about what he says publicly," Rahmani added. "His public relations team may want him to issue a denial in the court of public opinion, but that may hurt him in the courtroom if he is prosecuted or sued civilly because anything Leto says can be used against him."
In comment to Newsweek, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office said that "There have been no recent cases present by law enforcement related to Jared Leto. In 2019, a case was presented for one victim, but charges were not filed due to insufficient evidence and victim unavailability at the time."
What Is in the BBC Documentary?
The allegations are detailed in Jared Leto: Hollywood's Dark Secret, a BBC documentary featuring interviews with 10 women, nine of whom are speaking publicly for the first time. According to the outlet, the women alleged they encountered Leto from 2002 to 2016, when the actor and musician was in his 30s and 40s.
The broadcaster said it corroborated aspects of several women's accounts through friends and family members who were told about the alleged incidents at the time.
Among those interviewed was a woman identified as Isabel, who alleged she met Leto while working at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas in 2002, when she was 17. In the documentary, she said that she later agreed to meet him after work at what she believed was his hotel, but that the address turned out to be a "dingy motel."
"I had viewed this event as, I was a stupid girl that did something stupid, did something dumb, and so this bad thing happened," Isabel said in the documentary. "But of course it didn't because I did something dumb and so it's on me."
The documentary also features accounts from other women who said they encountered Leto at concerts, after-parties and through the music and modeling industries over a period spanning more than a decade. Several said they only later came to view those encounters differently as adults.
Two of the women in the film recalled being asked to call Leto "Daddy," while another said that he would refer to her as "little girl."
One woman alleged that Leto later contacted her about signing a nondisclosure agreement (NDA). The BBC said it reviewed the NDA and related communications, though she said she ultimately declined to sign it.
Who Is Jared Leto?
Leto rose to prominence as an actor in the 1990s and won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in Dallas Buyers Club in 2014. He has also appeared in films including Fight Club, Blade Runner 2049 and Suicide Squad.
Alongside his acting career, Leto is frontman of the rock band Thirty Seconds to Mars, which he formed with his brother Shannon Leto in 1998. The band continues to tour internationally and is scheduled to return to the U.K. and across Europe next year.
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Allegations About Jared Leto Have Circulated for Years
Allegations concerning Leto's interactions with young women have circulated for decades.
During its investigation, the BBC said it identified more than 120 allegations posted online relating to behavior women said they witnessed, experienced or heard about involving the actor and musician, with some dating to the early 2000s.
In 2005, an article in the New York Post contained allegations that Leto had approached teenage and underage girls at a New York hotel and exchanged text messages with them, but the issue did not return to the spotlight until 2025 when Air Mail published an investigation featuring accounts from nine women who accused Leto of sexual impropriety, including allegations that some of his interactions involved teenagers. Leto denied those allegations through a representative.
Former Thirty Seconds to Mars Crew Members Describe Concerns
The documentary also includes interviews with two former crew members who worked with Thirty Seconds to Mars.
The men said some staff members were uncomfortable with the age of girls and young women who were brought into the band's orbit.
One former crew member, identified by the BBC as "Simon," said Leto frequently communicated with young women while the band was recording and recalled women regularly visiting a house where the group was working.
"There would probably typically on a given day be about two girls that might stop by," according to Simon.
He described one encounter involving a girl he remembered as appearing "very young looking" and said she was dropped off by her parents before spending time with Leto. He recalled that after she left a bedroom and waited for her parents to pick her up, "the feeling in the air, it felt like shame and embarrassment."
Another former crew member, identified as "Brad," told the documentary that requests for female models to receive VIP tickets during arena tours came directly from Leto. Brad said "no one enjoyed watching that or being involved with that. I think everyone thought that the age gap was way too big."
Reflecting on allegations that surfaced publicly in recent years, Simon told the BBC that accounts from some women felt familiar to what he had witnessed while working with the band. "It's uncanny," he said. "The things she says about how he would behave with her. It's upsetting. It's disturbing. It completely brings back memories of what I witnessed."
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Jared Leto Absent During 'Masters of the Universe' Press
Leto's most recent major film role was in Masters of the Universe, the big-budget adaptation of the Mattel franchise released earlier this year, in which he played the villain Skeletor.
Despite being one of the movie's biggest stars, Leto was notably absent from much of the publicity campaign surrounding the film's release.
The relatively quiet promotional campaign contrasted with Leto's long-established public profile as both an Oscar-winning actor and frontman of Thirty Seconds to Mars.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Matthew Robinson, Emma Lee-Sang, Anna Commander and Edward T. Cummins.
Update 7/29/26, 10:30 p.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information.
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