--- title: Jared Leto Was Silently Meditating in Desert This Whole Time description: Jared Leto had no idea the world has gone on coronavirus lockdown because he has been in the desert. canonical: https://time.com/5804668/jared-leto-desert/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2020-03-17T16:57:48.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:01:23.459Z og:title: Jared Leto Just Learned About the Coronavirus Pandemic After a 12-Day Desert Meditation Trip og:description: He had no idea the world has gone on coronavirus lockdown og:url: https://time.com/5804668/jared-leto-desert/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ef97b45ced44c67/698a0ba3096a94bc1c6a7e16/JaredLeto.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: 'Dallas Buyers Club' Premiere And Vanity Fair Award - The 8th Rome Film Festival og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jared Leto Just Learned About the Coronavirus Pandemic After a 12-Day Desert Meditation Trip twitter:description: He had no idea the world has gone on coronavirus lockdown twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ef97b45ced44c67/698a0ba3096a94bc1c6a7e16/JaredLeto.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jared Leto Just Learned About the Coronavirus Pandemic After a 12-Day Desert Meditation Trip > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 17, 2020 4:57 PM UTC  Actor Jared Leto attends 'Dallas Buyers Club' Premiere And Vanity Fair Award during The 8th Rome Film Festival at Auditorium Parco Della Musica on November 9, 2013 in Rome, Italy. Actor Jared Leto attends 'Dallas Buyers Club' Premiere And Vanity Fair Award during The 8th Rome Film Festival at Auditorium Parco Della Musica on November 9, 2013 in Rome, Italy. Getty Images by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Mar 17, 2020 4:57 PM UTC Thanks to blaring headlines and the 24-hour news cycle, avoiding news of the [coronavirus](https://time.com/5804335/coronavirus-hospitals-shortages/) is difficult. That is, unless you’re silently meditating in the desert far from civilization. That is, unless you’re Jared Leto. The actor was self-isolating, before it was recommended by governments and health experts. Leto had taken a break from the world and retreated to the desert for some quiet time only to emerge 12 days later to a wildly changed world facing the [pandemic](https://time.com/5804656/ubi-yang-coronavirus/). He took to Instagram to express his feelings. “Wow. Twelve days ago I began a silent meditation in the desert,” Leto [wrote in his post](https://www.instagram.com/p/B90q7dpAnHW/?utm%5Fsource=ig%5Fembed), which was captioned with a red heart emoji. “We were totally isolated. No phone, no communication etc. We had no idea what was happening outside the facility.” The actor continued that when his retreat ended, he “walked out yesterday into a very different world. One that’s been changed forever. Mind blowing—to say the least.” “I’m getting messages from friends and family all around the globe and catching up on what’s going on,” he continued in the post. “Hope you and yours are OK. Sending positive energy to all. Stay inside. Stay safe.” Leto is not the only person who is just now discovering the new reality of life in a [pandemic](https://time.com/5800901/coronavirus-map/). The cast of Germany’s version of the reality show _Big Brother_ has been isolated on set and have not yet learned about the [the spread of COVID-19](https://time.com/5802293/coronavirus-covid19-singapore-hong-kong-taiwan/) has locked down much of the world. [According to the BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/newsbeat-51923334), the cast will finally be informed on Tuesday night in a live TV special. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5804668/jared-leto-desert/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5804668/jared-leto-desert/"},"headline":"Jared Leto Just Learned About the Coronavirus Pandemic After a 12-Day Desert Meditation Trip","datePublished":"2020-03-17T16:57:48.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:01:23.459Z","description":"He had no idea the world has gone on coronavirus lockdown","url":"https://time.com/5804668/jared-leto-desert/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Brief"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ef97b45ced44c67/698a0ba3096a94bc1c6a7e16/JaredLeto.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3ef97b45ced44c67/698a0ba3096a94bc1c6a7e16/JaredLeto.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"'Dallas Buyers Club' Premiere And Vanity Fair Award - The 8th Rome Film Festival","caption":"Jared Leto","creditText":"Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5804668/jared-leto-desert/","name":"Jared Leto Just Learned About the Coronavirus Pandemic After a 12-Day Desert Meditation Trip"}}]}] ```