How Jared Leto Has Been Preparing For The Oscars

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“You’ve got to make mistakes, because in doing that, wonderful things happen,” Jared Leto tweeted, shamelessly quoting himself from a recent L.A. Confidential interview.

Jared Leto is a man of firsts; he’s the first (seemingly straight?) man in the public eye to proudly sport a loud ombré hairstyle, and now it would appear he’s the first celebrity to actually quote himself in a tweet. And while Jared may have said (and tweeted) this, if his brunette-to-golden-blond gradient hair is any indication, it was obviously not his hair he was referring to. No—it’s much more likely that he had his locks in mind when he tweeted this Nelson Mandela quote:

It’s no surprise that Jared’s man-bun was the real star of this year’s Golden Globes. For, it may have technically been Jared, the human, who won the Globe, but it was his man-bun that left everyone talking after he said the words “Brazilian bubble butt” and exited the stage. And so of course Jared is feeling a bit apprehensive – nervous, if you will – about the impending Oscars and how he’ll wow everyone with his hair this time. Well thankfully, Jared’s as vain as he appears to be and he is ON. IT.

For Jared, it’s been a long six weeks since the Golden Globes, but we’ve been by his side every step of the way.

“The pony-bun press was kind of funny—I don’t know if he liked all that or not,” Chase Kusero, Jared’s hairstylist and the unofficial “king of ombré” said. And it’s true. The first two weeks following his Golden Globes man-bun were fraught with concerns and anxieties. Then Pharrell triumphantly emerged with an unforgettable sombrero-style hat—a sobering and harsh reminder of the impossible standards Jared is excepted to live up to. And L.A. Confidential’s comment that it’s “hard to imagine a man with that spiky, Emo haircut accepting an Oscar; yet now, with a ponytail, it seems somehow, entirely feasible,” couldn’t have stayed his nerves either. But Jared’s a fighter and he’s been pushing on, continuing to make his ombré presence known.

It was February 12th, the morning of the Jeremy Scott show, when Jared let us into his Bowery 3-bedroom triplex. Amidst NYFW and street style photographers’ growing demand for ombré, Leto explained that this was his only window of free time. “I’m a hot commodity,” he said, with zero trace of irony.

Jared had just gotten out of the shower when he let us in – the ombré masked by a darker wet look. “Have a seat,” he offered, “I’ll be right back, I just need to change into some clothes.” But before he even made it to the next room he let loose a deep bellow, “Marriaaaaa!!! Where’s my 1993 Valentino red plaid button-down???!!!”

When he returned, we all noted how the ombré had begun to emerge. “Isn’t the gradual process just titillating?” he asked, yanking a glass bottle of Perrier from Maria’s hand as she attempted to put the plaid shirt on him. Except he just yanked that from her too and showed his gratitude with an eye-roll and an “Ugh. I need it to wear around my WAIST, Maria. GOD.” At this point I began to wonder if this was all a bad idea, and whether Maria is here on some sort of visa or if she’s financially beholden to Jared. “I’m on edge,” Jared offered. “I’ve – I’ve been on edge, ever since our success at the Globes,” he added, pulling at his hair for emphasis.

At the time it all seemed so organic—the housekeeper abuse, the hair, the smile, the narcissism. He walked us out because he had to catch a cab too and just as we were about to part he let out a “Shit! I think I’m going to be late,” looking at his conspicuously bare wrist for dramatic effect. In hindsight, however, it all begins to crystallize. After all, it was everywhere, all over the headlines, “Jared Leto Interrupts Jeremy Scott Show.” Jared’s (NY)fashionably-late appearance at the Jeremy Scott show was an obviously planned PR move. I mean, we were supposed to have our interview at 10am and he actually asked us to push it back to noon.

After that, Jared just sort of stopped answering our calls. It was as if he disappeared, nowhere to be found. That is, until his hairdresser hinted at his whereabouts and tweeted this:

And suddenly, we knew what we had to do.

Three rest stops and two tolls later and we finally made it to Chase’s Jersey City abode. We found Jared sitting in the backyard naked, in lotus pose, wearing nothing but his Saint Laurent boots, as Chase washed out an 18-hour hair mask. We were going to walk in – perhaps conduct another interview – but after seeing how peaceful the two looked, we decided it was best to remain in the car and watch from afar. There were a lot of animal interpretations, lots of hair flips, lots of “Walk like a woman! Now a man!” Then, after watching Chase practice tying a feather into a casual knot as Jared munched on dry baby prawns for four straight hours, we decided it was time to go. When we left, Jared and Chase were cooing like owls.

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