BBC reports women allege sexual crimes by Jared Leto as teenagers

Four women accused Jared Leto of criminal sexual conduct in BBC reporting published on 29 July 2026, saying the alleged offenses happened when they were teenagers. The BBC framed the broadcast as an exclusive investigation, and the women were not named in the report.

The allegations ranged from a claim that Leto sexually assaulted one woman in a motel when she was 17 to another woman’s account that she had sex with him in California while she was under 18. Coverage of the BBC documentary said three of the women were younger than 18, and the documentary, titled Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret, said 10 women came forward overall. The reporting described the accusations as alleged sexual offences and misconduct, and it did not lay out any criminal charges or civil filings tied to the claims.

Leto denied the allegations. In a statement carried by Deadline and Variety, he said, “I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life,” and described the accusations as “categorically false.” Leto is an Oscar-winning actor and the frontman of Thirty Seconds to Mars, which has kept the claims in the spotlight far beyond entertainment gossip.

The BBC audio episode The criminal allegations against Jared Leto, also published on 29 July 2026, centered the same accounts. The women’s ages at the time of the alleged encounters place the case squarely in the context of teenage vulnerability and adult celebrity power, with the accusations describing encounters that allegedly took place while Leto was already a public figure with access to film, music and industry gatekeepers.

The new reporting also sits inside a longer record. Air Mail published an investigation on 7 June 2025 that said nine women accused Leto of impropriety, and Law&Crime reported two days later that multiple women had spoken about their experiences with him over several years. Variety said in 2025 that the allegations could affect his studio projects, including Disney’s Tron: Ares and Amazon MGM’s Masters of the Universe, underscoring how claims of abuse can shadow both personal reputation and major commercial film budgets.