Review
Jared
Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret review – the tales of abuse are utterly
disturbing
Four
women speak out about their underage experiences with the movie star and
musician. Are the floodgates finally about to open?
Stuart
Heritage
Wed 29
Jul 2026 13.54 BST
Jared
Leto has long been a person with something of a reputational issue. The
public-facing side of this was bad enough – while playing The Joker in 2016’s
Suicide Squad, he reportedly sent rats, dead pigs and used condoms to his cast
mates – but for years there have been upsetting rumours about what he does in
private. After a lengthy investigation, the BBC documentary Jared Leto:
Hollywood’s Dark Secret has finally brought at least some of them to light.
This is,
as you might imagine, not a fun thing to watch. The film documents allegations
of what are said to be decades of systematic criminal misconduct against
teenage girls. The women interviewed here allege sexual assault, threatened
sexual assault, sexualised grooming and statutory rape. They are backed up by
anonymous male former co-workers who claim to have witnessed the machinery that
Leto set up to procure underage girls from concerts.
What is
particularly galling about Hollywood’s Dark Secret is that this is not the
first time someone has tried to investigate these claims. As far back as 2005,
the New York Post was running gossip columns that claimed he was “aggressively
pursuing” what were described as “underage objects of desire” at a New York
hotel. By 2018, actor Dylan Sprouse and director James Gunn were trading jokes
about Leto’s interest in teenage girls online. Last year, Air Mail’s Elena
Clavarino spoke to nine women who variously claimed that Leto pursued them,
engaged in sexually explicit telephone conversations with them, exposed himself
to them and masturbated in front of them – all while they were underage.
When that
report was published, Leto’s representatives issued a denial. It seemed that
everything continued as normal. He promoted his movie. He toured with his band.
For a while it seemed that the world had blinked and moved on.
However,
something with the heft of Hollywood’s Dark Secret will be harder to ignore.
Released on YouTube as well as the BBC to ensure maximum impact, it is a
disturbing look at what is alleged to be a skin-crawling pattern of behaviour.
Jessica Sartenaer and her team have put together a case that bears the
unmistakable smell of shoe leather. Clearly, it often takes a long time for
allegations like this to see the light because of a culture of silence. People
are often scared to go public for fear of shame or reprisal, and it is in the
financial interests of many people to keep the Jared Leto machine running as
long as possible.
That
Sartenaer was able to find four women, and allay their concerns enough to let
them show their faces onscreen, speaks volumes. We should let their testimonies
speak for themselves (this really is a documentary that deserves to be seen,
rather than simply read about), but their bravery deserves to be commended.
Although
historical – these women are now all in their 20s, 30s and 40s – it is
difficult to watch them recount what they experienced while they were underage.
Some of their stories are straight from the Hollywood predator playbook, with
them being procured by Leto’s team and led to dingy hotel rooms. Others are
more baffling, like the woman who found herself receiving sexually explicit
calls from Leto as a 16-year-old girl, only to then receive further calls of a
similar nature from a man she believes was Leto in character as somebody else.
Cumulatively,
when these stories have been added to archive footage of concerts where Leto
has his arms draped around young girls, and talkshow appearances where he brags
about sleeping with fans, and one particularly unnerving clip where he quotes
the old Dazed and Confused line about high school girls – “I keep getting older
but they stay the same age” – the effect is completely disturbing.
So far,
Leto has been bulletproof against allegations like these, but you can’t help
feeling that this film will land a blow. Of course, it should be noted that the
timing of the documentary might help. Leto is no longer the box office draw he
once was. Last year’s Tron: Ares reportedly lost somewhere in the region of
$130m, and his latest film – Masters of the Universe – is among the biggest
flops of the year so far. It isn’t the best reflection of Hollywood that it
will only choose to round on alleged sexual predators once the bottom line has
been weakened, but better late than never.
Leto
declined to comment to Sartenaer and her team, unlike the robust denial he gave
after the Air Mail investigation. Maybe it’s a sign that the floodgates will
finally open?
Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret is on BBC
iPlayer and YouTube now
Review
Jared
Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret review – the tales of abuse are utterly
disturbing
Four
women speak out about their underage experiences with the movie star and
musician. Are the floodgates finally about to open?
Stuart
Heritage
Wed 29
Jul 2026 13.54 BST
Jared
Leto has long been a person with something of a reputational issue. The
public-facing side of this was bad enough – while playing The Joker in 2016’s
Suicide Squad, he reportedly sent rats, dead pigs and used condoms to his cast
mates – but for years there have been upsetting rumours about what he does in
private. After a lengthy investigation, the BBC documentary Jared Leto:
Hollywood’s Dark Secret has finally brought at least some of them to light.
This is,
as you might imagine, not a fun thing to watch. The film documents allegations
of what are said to be decades of systematic criminal misconduct against
teenage girls. The women interviewed here allege sexual assault, threatened
sexual assault, sexualised grooming and statutory rape. They are backed up by
anonymous male former co-workers who claim to have witnessed the machinery that
Leto set up to procure underage girls from concerts.
What is
particularly galling about Hollywood’s Dark Secret is that this is not the
first time someone has tried to investigate these claims. As far back as 2005,
the New York Post was running gossip columns that claimed he was “aggressively
pursuing” what were described as “underage objects of desire” at a New York
hotel. By 2018, actor Dylan Sprouse and director James Gunn were trading jokes
about Leto’s interest in teenage girls online. Last year, Air Mail’s Elena
Clavarino spoke to nine women who variously claimed that Leto pursued them,
engaged in sexually explicit telephone conversations with them, exposed himself
to them and masturbated in front of them – all while they were underage.
When that
report was published, Leto’s representatives issued a denial. It seemed that
everything continued as normal. He promoted his movie. He toured with his band.
For a while it seemed that the world had blinked and moved on.
However,
something with the heft of Hollywood’s Dark Secret will be harder to ignore.
Released on YouTube as well as the BBC to ensure maximum impact, it is a
disturbing look at what is alleged to be a skin-crawling pattern of behaviour.
Jessica Sartenaer and her team have put together a case that bears the
unmistakable smell of shoe leather. Clearly, it often takes a long time for
allegations like this to see the light because of a culture of silence. People
are often scared to go public for fear of shame or reprisal, and it is in the
financial interests of many people to keep the Jared Leto machine running as
long as possible.
That
Sartenaer was able to find four women, and allay their concerns enough to let
them show their faces onscreen, speaks volumes. We should let their testimonies
speak for themselves (this really is a documentary that deserves to be seen,
rather than simply read about), but their bravery deserves to be commended.
Although
historical – these women are now all in their 20s, 30s and 40s – it is
difficult to watch them recount what they experienced while they were underage.
Some of their stories are straight from the Hollywood predator playbook, with
them being procured by Leto’s team and led to dingy hotel rooms. Others are
more baffling, like the woman who found herself receiving sexually explicit
calls from Leto as a 16-year-old girl, only to then receive further calls of a
similar nature from a man she believes was Leto in character as somebody else.
Cumulatively,
when these stories have been added to archive footage of concerts where Leto
has his arms draped around young girls, and talkshow appearances where he brags
about sleeping with fans, and one particularly unnerving clip where he quotes
the old Dazed and Confused line about high school girls – “I keep getting older
but they stay the same age” – the effect is completely disturbing.
So far,
Leto has been bulletproof against allegations like these, but you can’t help
feeling that this film will land a blow. Of course, it should be noted that the
timing of the documentary might help. Leto is no longer the box office draw he
once was. Last year’s Tron: Ares reportedly lost somewhere in the region of
$130m, and his latest film – Masters of the Universe – is among the biggest
flops of the year so far. It isn’t the best reflection of Hollywood that it
will only choose to round on alleged sexual predators once the bottom line has
been weakened, but better late than never.
Leto
declined to comment to Sartenaer and her team, unlike the robust denial he gave
after the Air Mail investigation. Maybe it’s a sign that the floodgates will
finally open?
Jared Leto: Hollywood’s Dark Secret is on BBC
iPlayer and YouTube now
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