After two decades in show business, Jared Leto thought he'd seen it all — that is, until he received a fan's severed ear in the mail. During a March 22 interview with British radio station Xfm, the 41-year-old 30 Seconds to Mars frontman revealed the strangest gift he's ever received.
"The fans are an incredibly committed and passionate group of people. Going to a show is kind of like visiting Japan — you expect gifts on your arrival," he said. "You get all kinds of wonderful things. Someone cut their ear off once and sent it to me. That was very strange. A whole ear. The Van Gogh move. The note just said, 'Are you listening?' I never knew who it was, who's missing their ear out there."
The "Kings and Queens" singer then added, "I poked a hole in it and wore it as a necklace!" Leto later shared a picture of the bloody body part on his Instagram account. "Are you listening?" he wrote in the caption.
The gory image made many of Leto's fans uncomfortable. "The tale of the ear is actually true? Lordy," one Instagram user wrote. "The thought of that is beyond bizarre." Another user was more succinct with her reply: "Disgusting."
During his Xfm interview, the former My So-Called Life actor said he hopes his fans will stick to offer more traditional presents in the future: "Don't put your entire body in a case and send it to us."
