Armie Hammer has broken his silence on the cannibalism and abuse allegations against him in one of his first interviews since the scandal derailed his Hollywood career back in 2021, RadarOnline.com has learned.
The disgraced actor was accused of sexual assault and emotional abuse by several women in 2021 after private messages that he had allegedly sent detailing his cannibalistic fantasies and sexual fetishes emerged online.
In the wake of the controversy, he was dropped by his talent agency and publicist and stepped away from planned roles in projects like the Jennifer Lopez film Shotgun Wedding and the Paramount+ TV series The Offer.
"People called me a cannibal, and everyone believed them. They're like, 'Yep, that guy ate people,'" Hammer said with a laugh during an appearance on a new episode of the Painful Lessonspodcast.
"Like what? What are you talking about? Do you know what you have to do to be a cannibal? You have to eat people! How am I going to be a cannibal?! It was bizarre," he continued, per Variety.
"Even in the discrepancies, in whatever it was that people said, whatever it was that happened, I’m now at a place in my life where I’m grateful for every single bit of it."
The Call Me by Your Name star confessed that he "never knew how to give myself love" or "self-validation" before the allegations because he "had this job where I was able to get it from so many people."
"I’m actually now at a place where I’m really grateful for it because where I was in my life before all of that stuff happened to me. "I didn’t feel good. I never felt satisfied, I never had enough. I never was in a place where I was happy with myself — where I had self-esteem."
Hammer explained that he went through "an ego death" and "a career death" due to the accusations and ultimately decided to join a 12-step program.
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"It’s almost like a neutron bomb went off in my life," he said. "It killed me, it killed my ego, it killed all the people around me that I thought were my friends that weren’t — all of those people, in a flash, went away."
“But the buildings were still standing," he added. "I’m still here, I still have my health, and I’m really grateful for that."
Although Hammer admitted that his career as an actor is "nowhere" because he’s "not a viable commodity" within the "Hollywood system," he said he is making his "own sandbox" by writing a script with a friend.