Armie Hammer claims he’s ‘broke’ after sexual assault allegations destroyed his career

Actor Armie Hammer says he suffered a “career death” after being cancelled over sexual assault allegations.

Armie Hammer’s lifestyle was much different before allegations of sexual assault derailed his career and led to him being “broke”.

The Lone Ranger star revealed he experienced an “ego death”, a “career death” and “financial death” after multiple women came forward claiming he was into “cannibalism” and that they’d been sexually abused by him.

Hammer explained that he is now broke after the sexual abuse allegations came to light in January 2021. He confirmed to Bill Maher during a Club Random podcast episode that he did not receive any money from his family.

“Someone might look at me and go, ‘Yeah, but financially, you’re in a very different position than you’ve ever been in your entire life’,” the actor explained later in the interview.

“And I look at that and I go, ‘Yeah, And you know what it’s taught me is that I don’t need that because I’ve never been happier than I’ve ever been in my entire life’.”

Hammer also said his lifestyle leading up to this moment would have led to “death” if he hadn’t been cancelled.

“My life would have kept going exactly as it was,” he told Maher. “And I know that that would ultimately lead in one place and that’s death.”

The Call Me by Your Name star admitted his behaviour at the time “was stupid.”

“My life was going on a certain way and there was – it’s Newton’s laws right. An object in motion is going to remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force,” he explained. “My life was in motion. I was making a lot of money. I was drinking a lot. I was doing a lot of drugs. I was partying hard. I was being real fast and loose about what I put in text messages. And I was also engaging in risky behaviour that, if you really think about it, was stupid.”

Armie Hammer was accused of sexual assault by multiple women in 2021. Picture: Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images

The actor says he experienced an “ego death” and “career death” in the aftermath. Picture: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images

For Hammer, he isn’t sure there is a direct link between his past trauma and his behaviour.

“I think a lot of the behaviour I was engaging in was coming from extenuating circumstances,” Hammer told Maher. “Whether it be a certain displeasure about my own life – whether it be, you know, fuelled by…”

Maher cut Hammer off and brought up the alleged abuse the actor experienced as a 13-year-old at the hands of a clergy member.

“It was something I never, ever spoke about and was never open about and never OK with and had so much shame about,” Hammer admitted. “Like, what does that say about me? And the answer is, it doesn’t f***ing say anything about me.”

The scandal cost Hammer his marriage to Elizabeth Chambers. Picture: Mike Coppola/Getty Images

Hammer exited two major projects – a romcom involving Jennifer Lopez and a series following the making of The Godfather – after the alleged sexual abuse and cannibalism fantasy controversy in January 2021. However, he said the freedom he now has from being “cancelled” is “incredibly liberating.”

“Because so much of my life leading up to there, it was two things,” Hammer explained. “It was being preoccupied with how I was perceived, which now you don’t have to care about. Once everyone just decides that they hate you, you go, ‘Oh, well then I don’t need anything from you people any way. I guess I should just learn to be content with myself.’”

“And then you go do that and it feels f***ing amazing,” he continued. “And then when anybody says anything to you afterwards, they go, ‘I don’t like you.’ You go, ‘OK, I don’t care.’ Like your opinion is yours and you’re allowed to have it. I just don’t agree. But before I needed that, I needed that validation.”

Hammer denied all the claims made against him and authorities did not charge him over the allegations. Picture: Tommaso Boddi / GETTY IMAGES / AFP

Multiple women accused Hammer of sharing sexual fantasies with them that involved cannibalism. The first allegation came from the anonymous Instagram account House of Effie. Unverified screenshots allegedly showed messages sent from Hammer to an unidentified woman detailing BDSM acts and admitting the actor was “100 per cent a cannibal.”

Paige Lorenze, the actor’s ex-girlfriend, claimed Hammer had a desire to smoke and eat her ribs, which was “definitely disturbing.”

“He was talking about finding a doctor to remove my ribs that I don’t need – the ribs that are on the bottom – and that he had a smoker at his house. He wanted to smoke them and eat them,” Lorenze previously told Fox News Digital.

Hammer has starred in films such as Hotel Mumbai and Call Me By Your Name.

“He wondered how they would taste, and he basically was like, ‘I bet you they would taste good.’”

At least two other women came forward with similar stories and the actor was also accused of rape. Hammer denied all allegations at the time.

In 2023, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office announced Hammer would not face any charges related to the allegations.

“Sexual assault cases are often difficult to prove, which is why we assign our most experienced prosecutors to review them,” spokesperson Tiffiny Blacknell told Fox News Digital at the time.

“In this case, those prosecutors conducted an extremely thorough review but determined that, at this time, there is insufficient evidence to charge Mr. Hammer with a crime.”

This article originally appeared in Fox News and was reproduced with permission