He was once dubbed a ‘Hollywood heartthrob’.But these days, Jared Leto is labelled an ‘attention seeker’ and ‘cult leader’ with his ‘bizarre’ antics.On Wednesday, four women accused the Oscar winner and Thirty Seconds to Mars frontman of criminal sexual misconduct, with the alleged offences having taken place when they were teenagers.The allegations against Jared, 54, come from when the women were aged 16 to 19.Responding to the accusations, Jared said in a statement: ‘I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life. These claims are absolutely and categorically false.’ Though his major upcoming franchise roles and concert tours remain on schedule, this will no doubt impact his career.So, where did it all go wrong for him? Jared Leto’s fall from grace: How Oscar winner was once dubbed a ‘Hollywood heartthrob’ then was labelled an ‘attention seeker’ and ‘cult leader’ with his ‘bizarre’ antics So, where did it all go wrong for him? (pictured at the 2023 Met Gala)Jared shot to fame in 1994 playing Jordan Catalano in the TV drama My So-Called Life, where he was called a ‘Hollywood heartthrob’.The actor then won praise for his lead role as runner Steve Prefontaine in the movie Prefontaine and landed memorable supporting parts in big films like Fight Club and American Psycho. In 2009, he starred in Mr Nobody before taking a five-year hiatus from the spotlight.It was when he returned to the spotlight that the actor was considered at the top of his career, with a string of movie roles and musical success.In 2014, he touched the hearts of millions with his acclaimed performance of Rayon, an HIV-positive transgender woman, in Dallas Buyers Club.His outstanding performance earned him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.Accepting the award, he said: ‘This is for the 36 million people who have lost the battle to AIDS. ‘And to those of you out there who have ever felt injustice because of who you are or who you love, tonight I stand here in front of the world with you and for you. Thank you so much and goodnight.’As for music, he fronted Thirty Seconds to Mars during the high-performing era of their fourth studio album, Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams, cementing his dual status as a global rock star and movie star. It was when he returned to the spotlight in 2013 that the actor was considered at the top of his career, with a string of movie roles and musical success As for music, he fronted Thirty Seconds to Mars during the high-performing era of their fourth studio album, Love, Lust, Faith and Dreams, cementing his dual status as a global rock star and movie starIn 2016, he starred in Suicide Squad alongside Hollywood heavyweights Margot Robbie, Will Smith and Viola Davis.He played the role of the Joker but it was his bizarre method acting that caught everyone’s attention.In an interview with E! News, Jared claimed he sent sex toys and used condoms to ‘everybody’ in the cast.’I know it’s a family show, but we can educate people, at least they were used,’ he told a shocked interviewer.’I did a lot of things to create a dynamic,’ he said at the time, ‘to create an element of surprise, spontaneity.’ Margot, who played Harley Quinn, received a live rat from Leto, and he also had a dead pig delivered to the set.’There were many instances where I didn’t know what to expect from Jared,’ she said.It was already widely reported that Jared kept to himself on the set of the movie that was shot in Toronto.Will revealed during a radio interview that he was still to meet the real Leto and while they’d spent six months together on the film, they never actually spoke to each other except while shooting scenes in character.’He really set the tone. He wasn’t playing with it. He was dead serious as an actor. He was going in and he was 100 percent going into this character,’ he told E!Additionally, Jared said that he fabricated stories about his past and admitted that much of what is known about his early life may be untrue.In a Rolling Stone feature, he said: ‘I lied about it so much, I don’t know what the truth is.’His creepy gifts and interviews were just one element of the conversation around him. In 2018, Disney actor Dylan Sprouse tagged Jared in a tweet and said: ‘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.’ In another (now deleted) post, Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn added: ‘He starts at 18 on the internet?’However, the tweets didn’t seem to bother Jared, and twelve months later he was in Croatia on a private island, dubbed Mars Island, with fans of his band.They had accompanied him to Europe for the latest in a series of ‘summer camps’, where activities include yoga and cooking classes.Despite the band calling it a ‘spiritual retreat’, the overall vibe of the festival drew widespread comparisons to a cult. But while starring in Suicide Squad in 2016, it was his weird gifts to his co-stars that got people talking He then got accused of being a ‘cult’ leader with his three day wellness festival in Croatia His increasingly eccentric dress sense was also a topic of conversation, as he started wearing mesh tank tops, capes, skirts over pants, and bold hair dye (pictured at Met Gala in 2018) Jared at the Met Gala in 2018Photos showed the actor standing on a cliff with his arms raised, modelling white robes and a Jesus-like beard.’Yes, this is a cult,’ a 2019 tweet posted by Thirty Seconds to Mars read, adding the hashtag, ‘#MarsIsland.’In multiple images, both Jared and his fans wore white as they navigated the immersive three-day retreat, which was said to have cost over $6,499 (£4.8K) to attend. His increasingly eccentric dress sense was also a topic of conversation, as he started wearing mesh tank tops, capes, skirts over pants, and bold hair dye.At the Met Gala, he became well known for his wild and shocking red carpet outfits.He dressed as a giant fluffy white cat in 2023 and carried a replica of his own head in 2019, and wore a religious-themed Gucci garment in 2018.In 2021, Jared landed a role in the American biographical crime drama film House of Gucci.However, critics ridiculed his vocal delivery, noting that his cadence and pronunciation leaned into cartoonish territory rather than a realistic northern Italian dialect.Underneath a bald cap, fat suit, and heavy face makeup, Jared was nearly unrecognisable.But many reviewers felt the physical transformation only highlighted how detached his comedic, scene-chewing performance was from the rest of the dramatic cast.He then made headlines again in 2023 as he became the first person to legally scale the upper section of the Empire State Building in New York City.Jared completed the stunt to promote his band Thirty Seconds to Mars and their 2024 World Tour.The stunt didn’t go down well with fans like planned, as they branded him an ‘attention seeker’. He then made headlines again in 2023 as he became the first person to legally scale the upper section of the Empire State Building in New York City He then starred in a series of notable box-office flops, including Morbius, Haunted Mansion and Tron: Ares (pictured)He then starred in a series of notable box-office flops, including Morbius, Haunted Mansion and Tron: Ares.Most recently, Masters of the Universe heavily underperformed at the box office.In June 2025, digital media outlet Air Mail published accounts from nine women accusing Jared of sexual impropriety, unwanted advances, and pursuing minors.Then, in a BBC documentary released on Wednesday, it amplified the crisis by featuring on-camera accounts from ten women – including four who explicitly accuse Leto of criminal sexual conduct, statutory rape, and grooming during their teenage years.One of the women says she was sexually assaulted in a motel bathroom when she was 17.Another says the Dallas Buyers Club star threatened her with sexual assault when she was 19, and had been unexpectedly left alone with him in a hotel room.A third accuser describes how she had under-age sex with the star in California when she was 17 – which would be classified as statutory rape.Jared ‘shrugged off’ a conversation about the age of consent being 18 in the US state, she alleges.The fourth woman claims she was groomed by the actor, accusing him of abusing his celebrity status by making repeated sexually explicit phone calls to her when she was 16.On at least one occasion, she alleges he suggested they should have sex.The fourth woman was allegedly sent a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) to prevent her from talking about her relationship with Jared, according to the BBC, which claims to have seen the document.However, she refused to sign.Four further women allege they received strange and often very sexual phone calls from Leto when they were younger.Another woman claims, when she was 14, the actor instructed a security guard to take her backstage at a music festival after having made a lewd comment about her chest during an autograph signing.The girl’s mother confronted Leto, but he repeated the comment, it is alleged.The allegations all come from between 2002 and 2016 when the star was in his 30s and 40s.He is yet to respond to the allegations.One unnamed accuser said: ‘This was 25 years ago… he has gotten away with it.’