Disgraced actor Armie Hammer has responded to allegations of cannibalism leveled against him several years ago. The claims, made against the Social Network star by multiple women who also accused him of sexual assault and physical abuse, led to sensational headlines and what Hammer described as a “career death” in a new interview on the Painful Lessons podcast.
In 2021, several of Hammer’s ex-girlfriends posted graphic text messages alleged to be from the actor in which he admitted he was “100 percent a cannibal” and allegedly told one woman, “I want to eat you.”
Those claims, coupled with other allegations of abuse and intimidation, saw Hammer quickly exiled from Hollywood. His roles in two then-upcoming projects—Paramount+’s series The Offer and Amazon’s Shotgun Wedding—were recast; Hammer has only appeared in one film since the allegations, 2023’s Death on the Nile, which was shot before the scandal and delayed due to the pandemic.
His new interview marks the first time he’s publicly addressed the claims in such detail, barring a 2023 statement in which he denied the allegations.
“There were things that people were saying about me that just felt so outlandish. That I was a cannibal. Now I'm able to sort of look at it with a sense of distance and perspective and be like, 'That's hilarious.' Like, people called me a cannibal and everyone believed them,” Hammer said.
“People called me a cannibal, and everyone believed them. They’re like, ‘Yep, that guy ate people,'” he continued, laughing. “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 admitted that the accusations, which he initially felt “resentment” over, led to “an ego death, a career death.” He inevitably joined a 12-step program after he “hit rock bottom” following the implosion of his professional and personal identities.
“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.”
As traumatic as the fallout was, Hammer said he’s now “grateful” for everything that happened. “I’m still here, I still have my health, and I’m really grateful for that,” he reflected.
“Even in the indiscrepancies [sic], even in the…whatever it was that people said…I'm now at a place in my life where I'm really grateful for every single bit of it,” Hammer explained, “because where I was in my life before all of that stuff happened to me I didn't feel good. I never was in a place where I was happy with myself, where I had self-esteem. I never knew how to give myself love,” he said.
A 2022 Vanity Fair article reported that Robert Downey Jr. stepped in to help Hammer in the immediate aftermath of the allegations, financing his trip to rehab and offering one of his home to the star after his release from treatment.
In 2023, the LAPD released a statement announcing that they declined to file charges against Hammer due to “insufficient evidence.”
People reported that Hammer is currently living in the Cayman Islands, working as a sober coach and selling timeshares after having been “cut off” by his family.
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