BBC documentary: Ten women accuse actor Jared Leto of sexual misconduct

Ten women have made allegations of inappropriate sexual conduct by Oscar-winning actor and Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman Jared Leto in a BBC documentary, with four accusing him of criminal sexual conduct involving incidents they say occurred when they were teenagers.

According to the documentary Jared Leto: Hollywood's Dark Secret, one woman alleged she was sexually assaulted in a motel bathroom when she was 17. Another said Leto threatened her with sexual assault when she was 19 after she was left alone with him in a hotel room, BBC reports. 

A third woman alleged she had sex with Leto in California when she was 17, which she said would constitute statutory rape under the state's laws. She claimed Leto "shrugged off" a conversation about the age of consent being 18.

A fourth woman alleged Leto groomed her by making repeated sexually explicit phone calls when she was 16 and suggested they have sex. She said she was later sent a non-disclosure agreement, which she declined to sign.

The documentary also includes accounts from four other women who said they received sexually explicit phone calls from Leto when they were younger, while another alleged he made a lewd comment to her when she was 14 and arranged for a security guard to take her backstage at a music festival.

All 10 women said they encountered Leto between 2002 and 2016, when he was in his 30s and 40s. Nine of them are speaking publicly for the first time.

"This was 25 years ago… he has gotten away with it," said one of the women featured in the documentary.

The BBC said it corroborated parts of several women's accounts through interviews with friends and family members and by reviewing photographs and messages. Two former members of Leto's band's staff also told the documentary they were uncomfortable with the way he interacted with teenage girls.

The broadcaster also said it had identified more than 120 separate allegations posted online over the years regarding his behaviour toward women.

By Sabina Mammadli