There hasn't been much word out of the Armie Hammer camp for nearly two years in the wake of sexual assault accusations that left him a Hollywood pariah. Now, the 36-year-old actor is speaking out in his first interview since the scandal, taking on the allegations and noting, "I'm here to own my mistakes." In a sit-down with James Kirchick, writing for Graydon Carter's "Air Mail" newsletter, Hammer makes two especially big revelations—the first being a claim that he was molested by a youth pastor for nearly a year when he was 13. "What that did for me was it introduced sexuality into my life in a way that it was completely out of my control," he tells Kirchick. "I was powerless in the situation." He says that trauma led to his eventual interest in rough sex and BDSM, because "my interests then went to: I want to have control in the situation, sexually."
Hammer also says he tried to take his own life in the Cayman Islands in February 2021, right as his world was exploding around him. "I just walked out into the ocean and swam out as far as I could and hoped that either I drowned, or was hit by a boat, or eaten by a shark," he says. "Then I realized that my kids were still on shore, and that I couldn’t do that to my kids." Hammer still denies any criminal wrongdoing, but he admits he was "emotionally abusive" to multiple women. "I'm here to own my mistakes, take accountability for the fact that I was an a--hole, that I was selfish, that I used people to make me feel better, and when I was done, moved on," he says. Read Kirchick's interview here, which shows conflicting info on rape claims made by one of Hammer's accusers. No charges were ever filed in that case, and she didn't respond to Kirchick's requests for comment. (More Armie Hammer stories.)
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