Armie Hammer has finally addressed allegations of cannibalism he’s faced in the past three years, saying he is ultimately “grateful” for the experience.
The 37-year-old actor, known for his roles in Call Me By Your Name and the Social Network, found himself at the centre of a social media scandal in 2021 after direct messages allegedly sent from Hammer detailed graphic sexual desires and cannibalistic fetishism. He was subsequently accused of rape and abuse, a claim he has since denied.
Apart from a short statement via his lawyer shared at the time, in which he called the allegations “bulls***”, Hammer has remained silent on the claims, which, in his own words, caused “career death”. As the scandal intensified, the actor stepped down from future film roles and, a month later he was dropped by his talent agency.
The actor has now opened up about the furore, saying he is “grateful” for the experience.
During an appearance on podcast Painful Lessons, Hammer tackled the cannibal claims head-on, stating: “People called me a cannibal, and everyone believed them. They’re like, ‘Yep, that guy ate people.’
“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.”
Hammer said there were “discrepancies in whatever it was that people said”, but added: “I’m now at a place in my life where I’m grateful for every single bit of it.”
Elaborating upon this, the actor said that, before the allegations surfaced, he “never knew how to give myself love” as his job permitted him “to get it from so many people”.
He continued: “I’m actually now at a place where I’m really grateful for it because, where I was in my life before all of that stuff happened to me, I didn’t feel good. I never felt satisfied. I never had enough. I never was in a place where I was happy with myself, where I had self-esteem.”
Hammer said he joined a 12-step programme after the allegations surfaced as they caused “an ego death” and “a career death”.
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“It’s almost like a neutron bomb went off in my life. 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.”
Hammer reflected on the derailment of his career, telling the podcast that is is no longer “a viable commodity” for what he described as the “Hollywood system”.
However, the actor, who has no acting projects in the pipeline, said he is currently writing a script with a friend.
The allegations against Hammer came one year afterthe actor split from his wife of 10 years, Elizabeth Chambers, with whom he has two children, aged nine and seven.