She was the beauty who stole the show at Sunday’s Oscars.
We’re not talking about Lupita Nyong’o or Jennifer Lawrence. Much of the chatter online and at Oscar parties was about Constance Leto, Best Supporting Actor Jared Leto’s mother — and his date for the evening.
The elder Leto, 62, turned heads with her long, flowing gray hair and an elegant black gown.
Jared thanked her in his acceptance speech, saying, “In 1971, Bossier City, Louisiana, there was a teenage girl who was pregnant with her second child. She was a high school dropout and a single mom, but somehow she managed to make a better life for herself and her children.”
“She encouraged her kids to be creative, to work hard and to do something special,” he continued. “That girl is my mother and she’s here tonight. I love you, Mom. Thank you for teaching me to dream.”
Jared was born in 1971, and his mother later divorced his father, Tony Bryant. (She eventually married Carl Leto, from whom Jared takes his last name.) She raised her two sons with the help of her parents, although Jared has said that he grew up “very poor.”
Constance was reportedly a bit of a hippie and always pushed her sons toward the arts.
“I was raised around a lot of artists, musicians, photographers, painters and people that were in theater,” Jared once said.
“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,” he said.
In 2007, Leto’s mother launched her own women’s jewelry line called Linda & Constance.
Jared broke the news to his mom that he was taking her to the Oscars during an online video chat, and he posted a screen grab of her delighted face on Instagram.
