Armie Hammer has opened up about the cannibal accusations that killed his acting career, saying he is “grateful” and in a better place health-wise three years later.
In 2021, the Call Me by Your Name actor was accused of sexual abuse and improper behaviour by multiple women, with private messages he allegedly sent to women about his cannibalistic fantasies and sexual fetishes also leaked online.
Following the scandal, Hammer was dropped by agency WME and left several projects, including the Paramount+ series The Offer and Jennifer Lopez’s Shotgun Wedding.
Despite the allegations ending his career in Hollywood, the 37-year-old labelled the circumstance as “hilarious”.
“People called me a cannibal and everyone believed them. They’re like, ‘Yep, that guy ate people’,” Hammer told the Painful Lessons podcast.
“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.
“Even in the discrepancies, in whatever it was that people said, whatever it was that happened, I’m now at a place in my life where I’m grateful for every single bit of it.”
The Man from U.N.C.L.E actor added that he “never knew how to give myself love” or “self-validation” before the allegations, because he “had this job where I was able to get it from so many people”.
“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,” Hammer said.
“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 also said the accusations caused “an ego death, a career death”.
“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.”
The father-of-two married Elizabeth Chambers in 2010 but they parted ways in 2023.