More than three years after his infamous cannibal rumors surfaced on social media, Armie Hammer opens up about how he sees the good within the disturbing situation.
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In early 2021, an anonymous Instagram account posted screenshots of text messages claiming to be from Hammer that were sent to multiple women. The messages were full of various sexual fantasies. One of the women who claimed to be in a relationship with the actor alleged that he had a desire to cook and eat one of her ribs.
The situation caused Armie Hammer to step away from the spotlight for a few years. The 2022 Discovery+ docuseries House of Hammer examined the accusations as well as looked into the Hammer family as a whole.
While appearing on the Painful Lessons podcast, Hammer admitted that while the cannibalism accusations impacted his acting career significantly, he does find the gossip “hilarious.”
“People called me a cannibal, and everyone believed them. They’re like, ‘Yep, that guy ate people,’” Armie Hammer stated with a laugh. “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 then continued to speak about the situation by noting he was no longer struggling to defend himself. “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.”
Armie Hammer further pointed out that before the situation he never knew how to give himself love or “self-validation.”
“I had this job where I was able to get it from so many people,” he shared.
Armie Hammer Calls Cannibalism Gossip ‘An Ego Death, A Career Death’
While continuing to speak about the situation, Armie Hammer said the accusations caused “an ego death, a career death” for him.
“It’s almost like a neutron bomb went off in my life,” he explained. “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.”
Armie Hammer also said the situation humbled him. “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. He then said he didn’t feel nor felt satisfied. “I never had enough. I never was in a place where I was happy with myself — where I had self-esteem.”
Hammer went on to add that his acting career is “nowhere” because he’s not a “viable commodity” for the Hollywood system.”
Despite this, he’s making his “own sandbox” as an artist by writing a script with a friend.