In this weekend’s new episode of the “Painful Lessons” podcast, actor Armie Hammer spoke about the sexual assault and “hilarious” cannibalism accusations that prompted his ousting from the movie business in 2021.
“There were things that people were saying about me that just felt so outlandish,” the Call Me By Your Name star said. “People called me a cannibal and everyone believed them. Now I’m able to sort of look at it with a sense of distance and perspective and be like, ‘That’s hilarious.’ They’re like, ‘Yep, that guy ate people.’ You’re just like, ‘What? What are you talking about? Do you know what you have to do to be a cannibal? You have to eat people. How am I going to be a cannibal?’ It was bizarre.”
The cannibalism accusations initially stemmed from a series of screenshots allegedly purporting to show messages from Hammer sent to a mistress that were released in 2021.
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“I am 100% a cannibal,” one dispatch read. “I want to eat you.” The sexts were loquacious: “You just live to obey me and be my slave… I will own you. That’s my soul. My brain. My spirit. My body. Would you come and be my property till you die?” Another: “If I wanted to cut off one of your toes and keep it with me in my pocket so I always had a piece of you in my possession?”
Julia Morrison, another woman who accused the actor of behaving inappropriately, shared texts in the 2022 documentary House of Hammer that she said were from Hammer.
“I have a fantasy about having someone prove their love and devotion and tying them up in a public place at night and making their body free use,” the text reads, according to Morrison; “and seeing if they will fuck strangers for me.”
In 2021, Effie Angelova reported Hammer to the LAPD; she accused the actor of raping her in 2017 and at times being physically abusive to her during their four year on-and-off relationship. In 2023, the LA district attorney’s office said it would not file charges against Hammer after conducting a “extremely thorough” investigation.
Recounting what happened in the fallout from the accusations, Hammer said on “Painful Lessons” that he got to a dark place.
“Everything in my life falls apart,” he said. “I lose all my representation. I lose all of my work. I lose everything (and) think this is the worst thing that's ever happened to me. But when I look at it now with a sense of perspective and albeit a much healthier perspective,” Hammer said.
“For the last couple years, I’ve taken my kids to school every single day. I’ve picked them up every single day from school. I drive them around. I take them to what they need to do and then I take them home to their mom.”
“It’s almost like a neutron bomb went off in my life,” he said. “It killed me, it killed my ego, it killed all the people around me that I thought were my friends that weren’t—all of those people, in a flash, went away. But the buildings were still standing. I’m still here, I still have my health, and I’m really grateful for that.”
However, Hammer also conceded that at this point, his career is “nowhere” because he’s “not a viable commodity” in Hollywood.
