Los Angeles, June 8 : Hollywood actor Jared Leto is facing allegations of sexual misconduct by multiple women. Nine women have claimed that the 53-year-old actor behaved inappropriately toward them.

Some women have claimed that they were underage at the time of the alleged assaults, 'People' magazine reported.

The women allege a longstanding pattern of such behaviour. On Saturday, June 7, 'Air Mail' published a story following interviews with the women.

"It's been an open secret for a long time," an anonymous woman told the outlet. 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 m*********** before putting an 18-year-old's hand "on him".

As per 'People', in a statement to 'Air Mail', a representative for the actor "expressly" denied all allegations. Among the allegations featured in the report, Laura La Rue, a model who was 16 in 2008, recalled meeting Leto at an animal rights benefit that year and connecting with him over email before he invited her to his studio.

She visited his studio in April 2009 and recalled him allegedly "flirting" with her while there. A representative for Leto told 'Air Mail' that their "communications contain nothing sexual or inappropriate" and that La Rue "later applied to work as Leto's personal assistant, further underscoring the absence of anything inappropriate in any of their interactions".

La Rue, however, denied that she applied for the position. She also alleged, as per 'Air Mail', that Leto walked out of a room nude "like it was normal" on one occasion when she was 17. "I thought maybe this was just what adult men do," she told the outlet.

One woman claimed that she was 16 years old in 2008 when Leto approached her at a cafe in Los Angeles and "got" her number. She said that, days later, Leto called her home in the middle of the night with the "weirdest, grossest voice", adding that she didn't "know if he was on drugs'.

/IANS