Armie Hammer finally addressed the 2021 scandal that saw accusations flying faster than you can say “cannibal sex fantasies.” Chatting with family friend Tyler Ramsey on the “Painful Lessons” podcast, Hammer seemed genuinely baffled by the public’s reaction to the latter charge. “People called me a cannibal. Like I ate people. What?! 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,” he exclaimed.
Since the scandal, Hammer’s life has taken a sharp U-turn. He’s joined a 12-step program after what he calls an “ego death.” “I was drunk, high, and acting like an idiot all the time,” he admitted. “It was an ego death, a career death. A neutron bomb went off in my life. It killed off everything.”
Rehab seems to have changed him. Reflecting on his past, he shared that he was sexually abused as a child and once contemplated a dramatic (albeit “half-assed”) suicide attempt. “I swam out really far into the ocean, thinking there was nothing left for me. But then I imagined my kids on the shore, wondering where Dad went. So I swam back,” he explained.
As for the “idiotic” behavior he mentioned, in March 2021, a woman named Effie accused Hammer of violently raping her for over four hours, claiming he banged her head into a wall and beat her feet with a crop. “During those four hours, I tried to get away but he wouldn’t let me. I thought that he was going to kill me. He then left with no concern for my well-being,” Effie recounted.
Hammer, who was married to Elizabeth Chambers at the time, admitted in a 2023 interview with Air Mail to having a “very intense and extreme lifestyle.” He said, “I would scoop up these women, bring them into this whirlwind of travel, sex, drugs, and big emotions, then drop them off and move on, leaving them feeling abandoned or used.”
He also confessed to emotional abuse, saying, “I’m here to own my mistakes, take accountability for being an asshole, selfish, and using people to make myself feel better before discarding them.”
In May 2023, the Los Angeles DA’s office decided not to charge Hammer with sexual assault, citing insufficient evidence. Bureau of Communications director Tiffany Blackwell explained, “Sexual assault cases are often difficult to prove, and despite a thorough review, we determined there is insufficient evidence to charge Mr. Hammer with a crime.”
Catch the full interview with Armie Hammer on “Painful Lessons” in the video below.