Armie Hammer has spoken out about allegations that surfaced two years ago that claimed he abused multiple women, as well as engaged in questionable sexual practices.
In an exclusive interview with Air Mail, Hammer said that he was sexually abused by a youth pastor when he was 13, which “set a dangerous precedent in my life.”
The actor’s downfall as a potential Hollywood movie star was the result of accusations of odd BDSM and cannibalistic fetishes that were revealed on social media. A user named Effie, who shared screenshots in early 2021 dating back to 2017, also accused Hammer of rape.
Hammer, in the interview, admitted to emotionally abusing his past partners while also denying any criminal wrongdoing.
“What that did for me was it introduced sexuality into my life in a way that it was completely out of my control,” Hammer said of the allegation he was sexually abused at 13. “I was powerless in the situation. I had no agency in the situation. Sexuality was introduced to me in a scary way where I had no control. My interests then went to: I want to have control in the situation, sexually.”
Multiple other parties corroborated the abuse allegations. Hammer also added, “I’m here to own my mistakes, take accountability for the fact that I was an asshole, that I was selfish, that I used people to make me feel better, and when I was done, moved on. And treated people more poorly than they should have been treated.”
When the allegations led to an LAPD investigation, Hammer was pushed out of Amazon’s Shotgun Wedding (which just released this year) along with Paramount’s The Offer, Starz’s Gaslit, and Broadway’s The Minutes.
In the interview, Hammer also spoke about a suicide attempt he made at the time. “I just walked out into the ocean and swam out as far as I could and hoped that either I drowned, or was hit by a boat, or eaten by a shark,” Hammer, who was quarantining in the Cayman Islands at the time, recalled. “Then I realized that my kids were still on shore, and that I couldn’t do that to my kids.”
With regard to allegations from accusers Courtney Vucekovich and Paige Lorenze, Hammer said that “the power dynamics were off” and that his fame collided with his sexual yearnings in difficult ways.
“I would have these younger women in their mid-20s, and I’m in my 30s. I was a successful actor at the time. They could have been happy to just be with me and would have said yes to things that maybe they wouldn’t have said yes to on their own. That’s an imbalance of power in the situation.”
Hammer said that he is now working as a sober companion for a recovering addict who recently left rehab. “I’m going to move in with him and live with him, get him on a healthy routine, get him into a good schedule of [recovery] meetings, take him to the gym, cook healthy food for him,” he says. “It feels like my recovery has taken a turn from me being the one who needs help staying sober to me being able to help others. Twelve steps in action.”
The Call Me By Your Name and Social Network star was most recently the subject of the Discovery+ documentary, House of Hammer, released last fall. Hammer and his wife Elizabeth Chambers separated in the fall of 2020.
