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On Thursday morning, Jared Leto did something that no one else has ever done… he became the first person to legally scale the Empire State Building.
Leto spoke to “Today” afterward, saying, “I was more excited than nervous, to tell you the truth. But I have to be honest, it was very, very hard. It was a lot harder than I thought it would be. Just the endurance that it took, the stamina that it took, and it was very sharp.”
His “incredible” experience wasn’t a painless one.
Leto showed off his left hand, which was bloody from the sharp corners of the building.
Leto chose to climb the NYC landmark to promote 30 Seconds to Mars’ upcoming tour, which kicks off in March in Argentina. It was also something on his bucket list.
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He explained he also did it “to watch the sun rise overlooking the city that’s meant so much to me.”
He went on, “Ever since I was a kid, New York stood for the place that you went to make your dreams come true. And as a young kid, I wanted to be an artist, and New York was the place that you came to be an artist. And the Empire State Building was always that symbol for me.”
Jared climbed the landmark for 20 minutes, going from floor 86 to 104. His mom even saw his feat up close!
“I’ve always had a fascination with the Empire State Building, and I love to climb.” He said, “I made it to the top, and I was just saying, I saw my mother in the window of the 80th floor, and that was a nice surprise.”
Jared also posted a video of himself climbing the Empire State Building on his Instagram. He wrote, “Today we launch SEASONS WORLD TOUR 2024 in celebration of our brand new album, It’s The End of The World But It’s a Beautiful Day!!”
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“I’ve had a fascination with the Empire State Building, the “world’s number one attraction”, since I was a kid. Not sure if it was Guinness world records, King Kong, but something about this iconic structure always captured my imagination,” Jared added. “Built in just 13 short months, in one of the greatest cities in the world it has always been a powerful symbol to me of all the possibilities in life.”
Over the years, Leto has been quite a daredevil, scaling a Berlin hotel wall without a harness and bungee jumping at a Thirty Seconds to Mars concert.
“Extra’s” Megan Ryte recently spoke with Leto about his love for touring. He shared, “We’re very much a live band… It’s been a life-changing experience to travel all over the world… It’s really helped shape who my brother and I are, and to stand on that stage — we don’t take it for granted for a single second.”
30 Seconds to Mars holds the record for the longest rock tour ever in a single album cycle with over 300 shows, according to Guinness World Records.