Actor Jared Leto talked during a recent podcast appearance about being introduced to illicit substances at a young age and letting them take him “for a ride” when he got older.
The 51-year-old Academy Award winner described his experiences during an appearance on “The Zane Lowe Show” this week, per Page Six.
“I grew up in an environment where there were drugs around. I mean, I knew what the smell of weed is as a very, very young kid,” Leto said.
“I remember walking by some trees, like bushes or something as a young kid, very young kid, maybe, I don’t know, fourth grade or something. And saying to the other kids, ‘Oh, someone’s smoking pot there.’ They’re like, ‘What do you mean? What’s pot?’ They didn’t know what that certain spice was. But for us it was pretty normal.”
He described having curiosity about drugs that eventually turned into dependence.
“I was always interested in that,” he told Lowe. “I was always interested in drugs. I was always interested in an experience. I was interested in taking some risk, yeah.”
“I think that’s probably common for people that like to experiment or explore,” the “Suicide Squad” actor continued. “Addiction is a whole another part of it, of course. Taking drugs is one thing, but does it start taking you?”
“I took it for a ride, and then it took me for a ride for sure,” Leto added.
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The actor later talked about realizing things needed to change.
“I had a moment of clarity. I had an epiphany. There were two paths that I could take in life, I guess is the only way I can describe it,” Leto said. “I took that path. I’ve had very close friends that didn’t, and they’re not here anymore. Many.”
Leto was raised by a single mother, Constance “Connie” Leto, and previously expressed gratitude for her influence on his life.
“I was raised around a lot of artists, musicians, photographers, painters and people that were in theater,” Leto said during a 2014 interview with Focus Features. “Just having the art communal hippie experience as a child, there wasn’t a clear line that was drawn. We celebrated creative experience and creative expression. We didn’t try and curtail it and stunt any of that kind of growth.”
