The cult element of 30 Seconds To Mars fandom has been recognized by the band. Since 2015, Leto has been running 30 Seconds To Mars “summer camps” for fans. Activities included yoga, cooking classes, and — well, there’s always a downside — the 30 Seconds To Mars performance.
In 2019, he took the camp to Croatia, where fans, who called themselves “The Echelon”, soaked up the sun and wore white dresses. Just like Leto, who looked like Jesus with a God complex. Just so no one misses what they were looking for, the group’s social media wrote, “Yes it’s a #MarsIsland cult.”
Leto may have called himself a cult leader, but his childhood is more like a southern gothic novel. He was born in the impoverished town of Bossier in northwest Louisiana, where the main local industry was a trio of riverside casinos. His father, Tony Bryant, abandoned the family when he was a baby. Leto recalled his dad’s last words: “I’ll see you kid again, you just go to the store and get a carton of milk.”
Bryant would die by suicide when Leto was eight years old. His mother Constance had then moved back in with her parents. She later married Carl Leto, Jared’s adoptive father. Yet there was little stability in Leto’s life. At 16, he took drugs and paid for his habit with theft.
“There was a moment, involving a gun and cocaine, which may have been a turning point for me. I knew it wasn’t good,” he said. He turned around, however. and, at 22, got his big break, as Jordan Catalano in the teen drama My-So-Called-Life.
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