Jared Leto Accused of Sexual Misconduct by Multiple Women

quote:

---

On Saturday, June 7, Air Mail published a story following interviews with nine women who claim that the 53-year-old actor and musician behaved inappropriately toward them, some while they were underage. The women allege a longstanding pattern of such behavior.

“It’s been an open secret for a long time,” an anonymous woman told the outlet.

Among the allegations, Leto is accused of asking sexual questions to a 16-year-old girl, walking out of a room nude in front of a 17-year-old girl and exposing himself and masturbating before putting an 18-year-old's hand "on him."

In a statement to Air Mail, a representative for the Thirty Seconds to Mars band member "expressly" denied all allegations. A representative for Leto did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

Among the allegations featured in the report, Laura La Rue — a model who was 16 in 2008 — recalled meeting Leto at an animal rights benefit that year and connecting with him over email before he invited her to his studio. She visited his studio in April 2009 and recalled him allegedly "flirting" with her while there.

---

quote:

---

Another woman, who claims she was underage when she began texting Leto, alleged that the actor would ask her uncomfortable questions during visits to his home and that during one visit when she was 18, “he suddenly pulled his penis out and started masturbating."

"Then he walked over, grabbed my hand, and put it on him," the woman alleged, per Air Mail. "He leaned in and said, ‘I want you to spit on it.’ ”

---