Suzanne Cordeiro for American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK
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Nine women have come forward with sexual misconduct allegations against actor Jared Leto, with some of the accusers claiming they were teenagers at the time Leto made contact with them.
Jared Leto, 53-years-old, has been accused of sexual misconduct by nine different women, who have accused the Oscar-winning actor of sending sexual messages, making phone calls late at night with explicit content, exposing himself, pleasuring himself in front of them, and coercing them into acts.
Leto has been accused of inappropriate behavior with teenagers for decades, with a 2005 report from the New York Post titled “Jared Leto likes ’em young” claiming he would frequently and “aggresively” contacnt 16 and 17 year old models.
These latest accusations, which came from a report in Air Mail, include statements from women who were willing to go on record, including Laura La Rue, who says Leto invited her to his studio when she was a 16-year-old model in 2008.
“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.”
“It’s been an open secret for a long time,” an anonymous woman told Air Mail. A representative for Leto told the outlet that the “allegations are demonstrably false.”
In regards to Leto’s alleged predator behavior being an “open secret” in 2018, actor Dylan Sprouse tweeted at Leto saying “Yo @JaredLeto now that you’ve slid into the DMs of every female model aged 18–25, what would you say your success rate is?” to which director James Gunn replied, “He starts at 18 on the internet?”
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Leto’s next starring role will be in a Disney project as he’ll be featured in Tron: Ares alongside Greta Lee, Evan Peters, Hasan Minhaj, Jodie Turner-Smith, Arturo Castro, Cameron Monaghan, Gillian Anderson, and Jeff Bridges when it hits theaters on October 10.