Embattled actor Armie Hammer has spoken out for the first time since being accused of sexual misconduct two years ago, revealing to Air Mail News that he was a victim of sexual abuse himself.
In his first interview since sexual allegations of BDSM [bondage, discipline, sadism, masochism] fetishes, rape, and cannibalism references, Hammer revealed that his interest in BDSM stemmed from a year long sexual abuse he allegedly suffered at the hands of a youth pastor when he was 13, he revealed to Air Mail News.
AIR MAIL special report: Armie Hammer breaks his silence. https://t.co/ojCXquzTZG
— Air Mail (@AirMailWeekly) February 4, 2023
“What that did for me was it introduced sexuality into my life in a way that it was completely out of my control,” he recalls. “I was powerless in the situation. I had no agency in the situation. My interests then went to: I want to have control in the situation, sexually,” he told Air Mail News.
The abuse he suffered, Hammer said “set a dangerous precedent in [his] life,” though he maintains that his sexual interest in control was never about being violent to women and insists that he never engaged in a non-consensual sexual act with any of his partners, the outlet stated. (RELATED: ‘I Thought That He Was Going To Kill Me’: Woman Accuses Armie Hammer Of Rape)
“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,” Hammer admitted, according to the outlet.
Hammer stated he isn’t making excuses. “I’m here to own my mistakes, take accountability for the fact that I was an asshole, that I was selfish, that I used people to make me feel better, and when I was done, moved on. And treated people more poorly than they should have been treated,” he told the outlet.
Still, he wasn’t indifferent to the fact that his world was imploding around him. The loss of his career, his fortune and his sullied name drove him to the point of suicide in February of 2021, he told Air Mail News. “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. Then I realized that my kids were still on shore, and that I couldn’t do that to my kids,” he told the outlet.
AIR MAIL’s report on Armie Hammer may not change how the actor is seen, but it does give a fuller, more detailed, and fact-checked version of the allegations made against Hammer, write @graydoncarter and Alessandra Stanley. https://t.co/W2016188rJ
— Air Mail (@AirMailWeekly) February 4, 2023
Now, after his stint in rehab, Hammer says he is a “healthier, happier” and “more balanced person,” telling the outlet that he is “truly grateful” for his life and his recovery.
As for making a comeback in his career, Hammer slammed cancel-culture but stated for the time being he was more interested in setting the record straight.
“There are examples everywhere, Robert [Downey, Jr.] being one of them, of people who went through those things and found redemption through a new path. And that, I feel like, is what’s missing in this cancel-culture, woke-mob business. The minute anyone does anything wrong, they’re thrown away. There’s no chance for rehabilitation. There’s no chance for redemption,” he told the outlet. “Someone makes a mistake, and we throw them away like a broken disposable camera. Robert and others are examples of what it looks like for a human being to experience pain and then growth. And that aspect of it is something that I aspire to.”