Armie Hammer Takes Responsibility for His Public Downfall: ‘I Made These Problems for Myself’

NEED TO KNOW

• Armie Hammer took responsibility for the numerous controversies that led to his public fall from grace in 2021

• The actor faced allegations of rape, abuse and cannibalistic fantasies in 2021, after which he exited several projects, faced financial troubles and ultimately left Los Angeles for a time

• He vehemently denies these allegations

Armie Hammer is speaking out about his notorious fall from grace.

The Call Me By Your Name actor, 39, addressed the numerous controversies — including allegations of rape, physical abuse and cannibalistic fantasies — that led to his highly publicized downfall in 2021. In a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, published June 16, Hammer took some responsibility for his numerous scandals, which he denies.

“I made these problems for myself. This didn’t happen to me by a fluke accident,” Hammer told the outlet. “I didn’t do what people are saying I did. But I brought very dangerous and unsafe people into my life, and I pissed off people in my life — and here we are.”

Hammer’s conduct was first thrust into the spotlight in January 2021, when a woman publicly shared messages allegedly from the actor that contained BDSM and cannibalistic fantasies. Shortly afterward, his ex Courtney Vucekovich came forward with similar accusations.

Around the same time, Hammer exited several projects, including Shotgun Wedding opposite Jennifer Lopez and The Offer, a behind-the-scenes retelling of the making of The Godfather. He was also dropped from William Morris Endeavor (WME) the following month.

“I’m not responding to these bull—- claims but in light of the vicious and spurious online attacks against me, I cannot in good conscience now leave my children for 4 months to shoot a film in the Dominican Republic,” Hammer said in a statement obtained by PEOPLE at the time. “Lionsgate is supporting me in this and I’m grateful to them for that.”

Armie Hammer steps out in West Hollywood in May 2026.
Credit: BACKGRID

Later in March 2021, Hammer was also accused of physical abuse by Effie Angelova — the woman who first raised allegations against him in January, alleging that he sexual assaulted her during a four-hour incident which she said transpired in 2017.

In a statement provided to PEOPLE at the time, Hammer’s lawyer Andrew Brettler denied the allegations and confirmed that Hammer’s relationship with Effie was “completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory.”

What followed were more exits from projects, financial woes and his departure from Los Angeles to the Cayman Islands, where his father lived.

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At some point following his exit from Hollywood, Hammer landed on an approach of acceptance, he said. When his late father wanted to publicly fight back against those who came forward with allegations against him, Hammer told him, “Look, dude, I’m already on the cross… And the more I struggle, the longer I’m going to be up here.”

“There was nothing I could say that was going to fix anything for me,” he added.

Despite the accusations, Hammer was never charged. In April 2023, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s office confirmed he was being investigated over claims of sexual assault, but the DA said there ultimately was not sufficient evidence for a case.

Surprisingly, Hammer admitted to THR that he doesn’t wish his stream of controversies and subsequent hardships never happened.

“Honestly, no,” he said when asked if he would wish it away. “I remember the emotional state and the mental state I was in before all that happened. Healthy people don’t act the way I was acting. I would have loved if I could have had an opportunity to do it in a little bit more of a gentle way. But at the end of the day — you get what you get.””

Now, Hammer is returning to the acting world in the upcoming film Citizen Vigilante by Uwe Boll.

“I’m pretty sure I cried,” Hammer said of getting his first job offer in five years. “It was just this moment where I was like: I’m going to get to do the thing that I love more than anything — other than my children.”

However, Hammer made it clear he was eager to get back to work no matter what the project was.

“I would have done a f—ing cat food commercial. I just wanted to work again,” he expressed.

Hammer says at this stage in his career he’s embracing the lower budget projects coming his way.

“Lately, they always say on the first day of set, ‘We can’t believe we actually got you to do this,’ ” he said. “And I’m like: ‘My schedule was pretty open.’ “

Read the original article on People