The Tonight Show: Jared Leto recalls emerging from silent meditation retreat to COVID-19 shutdown

During Tuesday's episode of 'The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon' American actor Jared Leto recalled resurfacing from his two-week silent meditation retreat and his experience of finding out about the virus lockdown.
According to a portal, the 49-year-old star revealed that he never imagined he would walk out to a global pandemic. But that's exactly what happened last March.
"When I went away, there were about 150 cases, and just in that short amount of time, when I came out, there was a shutdown, a state of emergency and the whole world had changed," he remembered.
Because the silent meditation aimed to eliminate distractions, Leto didn't talk to anyone, didn't watch any TV and didn't have his phone for nearly two weeks. He also said the teachers did not alert the students.
The 'Suicide Squad' star said, "They made a decision, 'Let's not disturb the participants. I didn't turn on my phone until I went back to L.A. So, I drove the whole way trying to be, like, peaceful and zen, keep the feeling going. I got back, and I was, you know, kind of shocked. It was like Rip Van Winkle."
While the 'Mobius' star felt like he had "this great tool" to "deal with stress" after leaving the meditation, he said he doesn't think anything could "quite prepare any us for what we all went through in the beginning" of the ongoing pandemic. As he put it, "It was like coming out to the zombie apocalypse."
Leto also captured what he was feeling at the time in an Instagram post shared in March.
"Wow. 12 days ago I began a silent meditation in the desert. We were totally isolated. No phone, no communication etc. We had no idea what was happening outside the facility."
"Walked out yesterday into a very different world. One that's been changed forever. Mind-blowing - to say the least," he wrote.
As per portal, the actor then informed his followers that he was still "getting messages from friends and family all around the globe and catching up on what's going on."
"Hope you and yours are OK. Sending positive energy to all. Stay inside. Stay safe." he concluded. (ANI)