Hollywood star Armie Hammer's swift descent into ignominy was compounded on Thursday after a 24-year-old woman alleged in a press conference that the actor had raped her violently for several hours four years ago. "I thought he was going to kill me," she said, several international news outlets report. The woman spoke alongside high-profile lawyer Gloria Allred. Insider reports that Armie Hammer's lawyer has denied the woman's claims, offering explicit text messages sent by her to the actor as proof that all his interactions with the accuser were consensual. Armie Hammer, regarded as one of Hollywood's top stars not too long ago, has been dropped from his current projects after several women came forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct and shocking claims of cannibalism.
"Armie Hammer raped me for over four hours in Los Angeles, during which he repeatedly slapped my head against a wall, bruising my face. During those four hours, I tried to get away and he wouldn't let me. I thought that he was going to kill me," said the woman accusing the actor in her press conference reports the BBC. She said that she met Mr Hammer on Facebook, fell in love with him and claimed to have dated him for a while. Armie Hammer was married at the time. Los Angeles Police told BBC and The Guardian that Mr Hammer is a suspect in a sexual assault investigation.
Armie Hammer's lawyer called the 24-year-old woman's allegations "outrageous" in an email to Insider. "As recently as July 18, 2020, [she] sent graphic texts to Mr. Hammer telling him what she wanted him to do to her. Mr. Hammer responded making it clear that he did not want to maintain that type of relationship with her," the email said, insisting that the actor's interactions with all his sexual partners have been "completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory." Gloria Allred, who is representing Armie Hammer's accuser, rejected these claims when Insider reached out to her.
In January, direct Instagram messages that appeared to have been written by Armie Hammer were posted online - in these, the actor appeared to detail violent sexual fantasies that included cannibalism. As the controversy blew up, Mr Hammer stepped down from the Jennifer Lopez film Shotgun Wedding. Soon, he was dropped by his agency, his role in the film Gaslit was recast and estranged wife Elizabeth Chambers filed for divorce. At the time, Armie Hammer told Variety: "I'm not responding to these bullshit claims but in light of the vicious and spurious online attacks against me."
Last seen in Rebecca opposite Lily James, Armie Hammer's career is now in spectacular freefall with redemption of any sort an unlikely prospect.