It’s been about five years since Jared Leto, 48, and Valery Kaufman, 26, were first seen together at a New York City deli. Since then, the two have kept it on the down-low, so it was quite a momentous occasion when they were seen hitting a hiking path in Malibu on Thursday (June 4.) The two were out for some exercise, with Valerie dressed up in some serious workout gear. Jared, wearing his “If You Can Read This You Are Too Close” facemask, wore a light pink shirt and a zip-up jacket. When the southern California sun got a little too much, he used the coat as a shield. His Russian-born beauty of a girlfriend also wore a knit cap, fitting more of the winter seasons than for early June.
Valery – a runway model who has worked with Tom Ford, Oscar de la Renta, and appeared in the 2015 and 2016 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show – has been involved with Jared since June 2015. Rumors of a relationship started when the two were seen together twice in New York City, including a late-night grocery run at a deli. Since then, outside of Feb. 2020 lunch date with his mom, there haven’t been much in the way of public appearances with these two. That’s not by accident
Jared, when speaking to Rolling Stone in 2016, joked that his then public activities at the time were “designed to distract people, so no one asks about the marriage I’ve been in for 10 years and the two kids I have in Arizona.” Again, that was a joke, and Leto continued: “Even if I was in a relationship or maybe if I was having kids, I don’t know if I would share that information publicly.”
During that conversation, Jared said, “You know what I’ve learned about women? I know absolutely nothing about women. The older I get, it’s just people. I just see people.” This line became a bit cringeworthy in 2018 when Dylan Sprouse randomly accused Jared of preying on younger models. “Yo @JaredLeto now that you’ve slid into the dm’s of every female model aged 18-25, what would you say your success rate is?” tweeted Dylan. James Gunn, the director of 2021’s The Suicide Squad (a sequel to 2016’s Suicide Squad, directed by David Ayer), added his own two-cents. “He starts at 18 on the Internet?”