One of my favorite books/movies is Call Me By Your Name. The film version is directed by Luca Guadagnino and stars two heartthrob actors, Timothée Chalamet and Armie Hammer. The movie tells a beautiful story about two people who can't be together. Which makes writing this essay a little hard on me, because I'll never be able to watch this movie again without it being ruined by information that I did not ask to know. Early this year, the anonymous Instagram, @houseofeffie, posted direct messages from Armie to his ex-girlfriend. The tweet below includes screenshots of the messages that have now been taken down from the @houseofeffie Instagram.
The explicit conversations or dirty talk is not what is surprising. The part that stood out and concerned people was the talk of rape fantasies and the desire to inflict pain on his partners. Not to mention one of the messages that read that he was "100% a cannibal." The woman who was the target in the messages anonymously goes by Effie. Alongside her attorney, Gloria Allred, Effie accused Hammer of "violently" raping her. She reportedly cried the entirety as she talked. She explained that "He became increasingly more violent. I thought he was going to kill me." She claimed that Hammer raped her back when she was 20 years old, in April of 2017. Supposedly, Hammer "repeatedly slammed" her "face against the wall" leaving her bruised.
Following the press conference, Hammer's attorney denied all of Effie's claims in the statement below,
“[Effie’s] own correspondence with Mr. Hammer undermines and refutes her outrageous allegations. As recently as July 18, 2020, [Effie] 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. It was never Mr. Hammer’s intention to embarrass or expose [Effie’s] fetishes or kinky sexual desires, but she has now escalated this matter to another level by hiring a civil lawyer to host a public press conference with the truth on his side, Mr. Hammer welcomes the opportunity to set the record straight. From day one, Mr. Hammer has maintained that all of his interactions with [Effie] — and every other sexual partner of his for that matter — have been completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory. [Effie’s] attention seeking and ill-advised legal bid will only make it more difficult for real victims of sexual violence to get the justice they deserve.”
In responses, Allred replied with "I challenge Armie Hammer to present all, not some, of his commuications with Effie to the Los Angeles Police Department and answer all of their questios directly rather than through his lawyers."
But this isn't the first woman to make claims against Mr. Hammer. One of his ex-girlfriends, Courtney Vucekovich recently spoke to Page Six about her relationship with Hammer. Vucekovich said Hammer had previously told her that he wanted to "barbecue and eat" her and alleged he was emotionally abusive. She said, "He quickly grooms you in the relationship. He kind of captivates you and while being charming, he's grooming you for these things that are darker and heavier and consuming," she continues. "When I say consuming, I mean mentally, physically, emotionally, financially, just everything."
![Armie Hammer and courtney vucekovich]() |
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Another ex-girlfriend, Paige Lorenze, also made claims that he physically abused her. She explained that he used to carve the letter "A" with a knife in her skin near her vagina and would intentionally bruise her as a form of marking his territory. Lorenze said in a statement "He wanted me to show them off and be proud of them. I said 'How am I supposed to see other people when I have bruises?' He said 'That's the point.' I think it was a part of marking and branding.
Hammer's now ex-wife has since made a statement regarding the whole debacle that said, "No words." I've said this before and I'll say it again, but silence speaks volumes. The only personal statement Hammer has made was after he stepped down from a role that was cast alongside Jennifer Lopez. He said,"I'm not responding to these bulls--- 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," he continued "Lionsgate is supporting me in this and I'm grateful to them for that."
From a publicist's point of view, how do deal with that kind of exposure? I'll tell you what Mr. Hammer did. They dropped him, along with his management.
It's disgusting that we live in a world where victims are questioned and never allowed closure because they did not speak up at the time. With the damning evidence these multiple women have against him there's no doubt he should be in jail, rather than hiding in the Cayman Islands. It seems as of now he is blacklisted because he hasn't gotten a job going on 2 years now and I hope it stays that way. I can't have him ruining another favorite movie of mine.
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