‘I used people to make me feel better,’ actor says
Armie Hammer opens up about accusations, blames abuse suffered as a youth
Two years after Armie Hammer was accused of raping a woman and coercing others to engage in aggressive sexual activities, the actor is discussing the allegations against him for the first time.
“I’m here to own my mistakes, take accountability for the fact that I was an a--hole, that I was selfish, that I used people to make me feel better, and when I was done, moved on,” he said in a new interview with Air Mail. “I’m now a healthier, happier, more balanced person … I’m truly grateful for my life and my recovery and everything. I would not go back and undo everything that’s happened to me.”
In the article, Hammer traces his interest in erotic BDSM practices to sexual abuse he says he suffered for nearly a year at 13 by a youth pastor of his church.
“Sexuality was introduced to me in a scary way where I had no control,” Hammer said. “My interests then went to: I want to have control in the situation, sexually … because being out of control was very dangerous for me and very uncomfortable.”
The “Call Me by Your Name” actor’s career came to a halt in early 2021 when dozens of disturbing text message exchanges, in which Hammer allegedly disclosed cannibalistic desires, “master-slave fetishes” and BDSM obsession to numerous young women, were circulated online. Hammer was also accused of raping a woman in 2017, allegedly slamming her head against a wall and beating her feet.
As his lawyer did when the allegations emerged, Hammer denies the accusation by the woman, identified as Effie, by saying their encounter was what’s called a “consensual non-consent scene” — a practice Hammer said he learned about from Effie — and that “every single thing was discussed beforehand” during now-deleted conversations on Facebook Messenger.
“If I still had these messages, I would have been able to put this to bed in .5 seconds,” he said. “This alleged rape was a scene that was her idea.”
Of the rape accusation, Hammer said, “I have never thrust this on someone unexpectedly. Never.”
In the article, Hammer comments on his sexual activities with Courtney Vucekovich and Paige Lorenze, who both went public about his alleged cannibalistic desires. While he denies any nonconsensual sexual activity or carving the letter A near Lorenze’s vagina with a knife — according to Hammer, he “lightly traced” his initial on her skin, with her permission and resulting in little blood — he acknowledged that “the power dynamics were off” in these relationships because of his age and fame, and admitted he was emotionally abusive to his accusers.
“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,” he said. “I had a very intense and extreme lifestyle, and I would scoop up these women, bring them into it — into this whirlwind of travel and sex and drugs and big emotions flying around — and then as soon as I was done, I’d just drop them off and move on to the next woman, leaving that woman feeling abandoned or used.”
After Hammer lost his representation and was dropped from numerous projects, he contemplated suicide while quarantining in the Cayman Islands in early 2021, he said. “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,” he recalled. “Then I realized that my kids were still on shore, and that I couldn’t do that to my kids.”
Hammer said he’s had trouble keeping a job since the allegations surfaced but, after entering rehab for drug and alcohol abuse last year, he is working as a sober companion for a fellow recovering addict.
He holds a hope of returning to acting, as his friend Robert Downey Jr. did after drug charges and stints in jail: “There’s examples of people who went through really difficult times and experienced what Joseph Campbell would call ‘the hero’s death.’ And the hero must die so the hero can be reborn again,” he said.
“I had a very intense and extreme lifestyle, and I would scoop up these women, bring them into it … and then as soon as I was done, I’d just drop them off and move on to the next woman
ARMIE HAMMER ACTOR