The BBC premiered a documentary about Jared Leto with zero advance publicity on a Wednesday in July 2026, catching viewers and the industry off guard. Titled Jared Leto: Hollywood's Dark Secret, the film details the experiences of ten women, four of whom accuse the Oscar-winning actor of criminal sexual conduct (Deadline, 30 July 2026).

Nine of those ten women shared their stories on camera, according to BBC News. The alleged interactions occurred between 2002 and 2016, Variety reported. A woman using the pseudonym "Clara" described having sex with Leto at his California home in 2006, when she was 17 — an act that would be classified as statutory rape under California law. Another woman, "Isabel," alleged she was sexually assaulted by Leto in Las Vegas in 2002 and appeared on camera in the documentary (Deadline, 30 July 2026).

Leto, who won an Academy Award for Dallas Buyers Club, has denied the allegations. "I have never sexually assaulted anyone in my entire life," he said in a statement. "These claims are absolutely and categorically false" (Deadline, 30 July 2026).

The project traces its origins to a single Instagram post. Development producer Harry Pick spotted a message from Los Angeles DJ Allie Teilz, who alleged she had been assaulted by Leto when she was 17. That post led producer and presenter Jessica Sartenaer to begin work on the documentary last year. Alice McShane directed; her previous credits include Russell Brand: In Plain Sight. Executive producer Mike Radford, who works in the BBC's current affairs unit, previously oversaw Tim Westwood, Abuse of Power and Al Fayed: Predator at Harrods — both investigations into sexual misconduct by prominent public figures (Deadline, 30 July 2026).

The BBC has counted 120 separate accusations made online relating to Leto's behaviour towards women. Before the documentary aired, U.S. outlet Air Mail published a report in which nine women accused Leto of engaging in inappropriate behaviour (Deadline, 30 July 2026).

Radford described the Leto case as "a bellwether on where we are on the MeToo movement" — a nearly decade-old reckoning with sexual misconduct in the entertainment industry (Deadline, 30 July 2026).

The film is being distributed internationally by BBC Studios. A companion audio episode, The criminal allegations against Jared Leto, is available on BBC Sounds, where director McShane discusses the stories of three women (BBC Sounds, 29 July 2026). The documentary currently appears in the Featured category on the BBC iPlayer documentaries page (BBC iPlayer).

The professional fallout is already visible. Leto promoted Tron: Ares for Disney but was noticeably absent from the publicity campaign for Masters of the Universe, an Amazon release — including its premiere. His band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, is scheduled to tour in 2027 (Deadline, 30 July 2026).

The documentary's programme page is live at BBC iPlayer.