For celebrities, social media is a double-edged sword. When your name is trending, it may be because fans are excited about your role in a big movie. Or it could be because fans have discovered some absolutely horrifying things about you.
And that seems to be the case with Armie Hammer, best known for starring in the critically-acclaimed films Call Me by Your Name and The Social Network. Earlier this month, direct messages allegedly sent by the star to different women were released online. And the DMs seemingly reveal a celeb obsessed with everything from sexual dominance to cannibalism! Now, the fallout from the scandal is costing Hammer roles and threatening to derail his career.
Just how weird did it get? Here’s everything you need to know about the Armie Hammer scandal.
It started with unverified DMs
This scandal started like many scandals in the social media age: through direct messages (DMs).
On January 9, Instagram user @houseofeffie leaked dozens of different screenshots allegedly portraying Hammer’s DMs to different women from 2016 to 2020. This would have been bad enough considering that some of these DMs occurred while he was still together with Elizabeth Chambers (the couple announced their impending divorce in July 2020).
However, the outrageous content of the messages are what took the internet by storm. It’s important to remember that these DMs have not been verified, and Hammer himself has disavowed them. As Variety reports, Hammer called the messages “bull—- claims” that he would not be responding to.
But this hasn’t kept the internet from talking about the insane content of these DMs. And here are a few of the stranger revelations hidden inside.
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Armie Hammer, cannibal?
Arguably, the weirdest thing that came to light from these DMs is Hammer’s apparent enthusiasm for cannibalism. In one of the screenshots, we can see the following message allegedly from Hammer: “I am 100% a cannibal. I want to eat you. F—. That’s scary to admit. I’ve never admitted that before.”
If this was a one-time message, we might be able to dismiss it as a joke in weird taste (so to speak). But other DMs show Hammer seemingly asking to drink someone’s blood. And another message has him telling a woman he wants to “bite pieces off of” her and even consume her heart!
But things get even weirder from there….
Interest in BDSM
The screenshots also reveal an actor obsessed with domination in his sex life. We can see some messages that read “You just live to obey and be my slave. I will own you… would you come and be my property until you die?”
This string of messages is disturbing, culminating in the actor seemingly asking permission to cut off a woman’s toe and keep it in his pocket so he could always “have a piece of you in my possession.” While these messages are outlandish, they line up (roughly) with public comments the actor has made.
For example, PageSix reports that Hammer confessed to Playboy he enjoyed “grabbing women by the neck and hair” while having sex.
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Allegedly cheating on his wife
For some fans of the actor, the content of the DMs isn’t the most disturbing part. Instead, they are focused on the alleged timing of these messages.
The screenshots show messages to women ranging from 2016 to 2020. But Hammer and Elizabeth Chambers got married in 2010 and did not announce their separation until July 2020. If these DMs are real, they reveal Hammer to be a serial cheater who betrayed his wife’s trust time and time again with different women.
And believe it or not, this story gets much worse. And much, much darker as allegations of abuse have surfaced.
Abuse allegations
The public discourse over these alleged DMs has gone in many different directions. For example, some fans defend these messages as an aspect of Hammer’s well-known predilection for kinky sex. In that context, some of the wilder messages may be part of an extended kind of roleplaying with his sexual partners.
Of course, that only works in the context of a partner consenting to the kink. App founder Courtney Vucekovich told PageSix that Hammer told her he “wants to break my rib and barbecue and eat it.” She said Hammer would threaten to bite her and, “If I had a little cut on my hand, he’d like suck it or lick it.”
She also claims Hammer “grooms you in the relationship” and “He sucks out all the goodness you have left.” She described his behavior as “obsessive” and that he put her in “dangerous situations.”
After they broke up, Vucekovich checked herself into a hospital to receive treatment for PTSD and trauma. And many are worried that these DMs confirm Hammer’s desire to dominate and abuse other women in the same way.
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Elizabeth Chambers in damage control mode
Obviously, most of the public focus is on Armie Hammer as the apparent author of these scandalous DMs. But estranged wife Elizabeth Chambers is receiving quite a bit of attention as well. Everyone wants to know: how much of this did she already know about her husband?
The Daily Mail spoke with one of Chambers’ closest friends. They reported that Chambers found all of this a “complete shock.” And while Chambers was aware of the infidelity, the friend claims that things like the alleged cannibalism and violent sexual urges revealed an “other side to him that she wasn’t aware of. Whether it was always there and he kept it hidden, or something happened that changed him completely, she doesn’t know.”
Adding to the tragedy of this scandal is that Hammer and Chambers have two young children, Harper (6) and Ford (4). It’s already hard enough dealing with divorced parents, and the scandal will likely make things much worse for the children.
And it’s already making things worse for Hammer’s acting career.
Hammer exits ‘Shotgun Wedding’
The entire scandal is already starting to affect Hammer’s career. He was previously set to star in a comedy-action film alongside Jennifer Lopez called Shotgun Wedding. Now, he has exited the production.
In a statement, Hammer denied the allegations but wrote “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. Lionsgate is supporting me in this and I’m grateful to them for that.”
The film is scheduled to shoot in February. Transformers actor Josh Duhamel is reportedly in early talks to take over Hammer’s role.
Time will tell whether this scandal blows over or this ends up completely derailing the career of Hammer.