Jared Leto looks back on being “always interested in drugs” from a young age

Jared Leto has reflected on his perception of drugs from a young age, saying that he was “always interested” in exploring different substances during his childhood.

The actor and 30 Seconds To Mars frontman looked back on the topic in a new interview with Apple Music 1. Speaking with the show’s host, Zane Lowe, Leto recalled that he was “always interested” in drugs from a young age, and raised in an environment where drug usage was normalised.

“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,” the 51-year-old recalled in the interview.

“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,’” he explained. “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 continued, adding that it was this curiosity he had from childhood that led to him wanting to take more risks with his behaviour. “I never had a ‘no’ for any of that stuff,” he said. “I was always interested in that. I was always interested in drugs, I was always interested in an experience. I was always interested in taking some risk.”

Elsewhere in the interview with Lowe, Leto also explained how he got more involved in drug use as he got older, but experienced a “moment of clarity” that led to him realising that the drugs were controlling him more than he was controlling them.

“Of course, taking drugs is one thing, but does it start taking you? And in my experience, was certainly one that I took it for a ride and then it took me for a ride for sure,” he admitted.

“I had a moment of clarity. I had an epiphany,” he added. “There were two paths that I could take in life…I guess is the only way I can describe it. And I took that path and I’ve had very close friends that didn’t. And they’re not here anymore. Many.”

In other Jared Leto news, last month Thirty Seconds To Mars shared their new single ‘Seasons’ – the fourth to be lifted from their sixth studio album ‘It’s The End Of The World But It’s A Beautiful Day’.

It follows on from previous singles ‘Get Up Kid’, ‘Stuck’ and ‘Life Is Beautiful’, and the full LP dropped today (September 15).

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