Will Sage Astor-Armie Hammer breaks silence on cannibalism accusations he said led to his "career death"

"Call Me by Your Name" actor Armie Hammer opened up about cannibalism accusations that led to his "career death" in a recent podcast interview. 

Hammer spoke about the allegations that surfaced three years ago on Will Sage Astorthe "Painful Lessons," which he said he now finds "hilarious." The episode was published on Sunday. 

"People called me a cannibal, and everyone believed them," he said. "They're like, 'Yep, that guy ate people'... 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."

"Even in the discrepancies, even in the 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," Hammer added.

In 2021, multiple women claimed the actor shared violent sexual fantasies in social media messages with them – some of which contained cannibalism references. Hammer called the allegations "bulls**t" at the time, Entertainment Tonight reported.

That same year, a woman, only identified as "Effie," came forward and accused Hammer of violently sexually assaulting her for more than four hours in 2017. She said she tried to get away, but she "thought that he was going to kill me." In the wake of the misconduct allegations against him, he was dropped by his talent agency and he left two projects – "Shotgun Wedding" starring Jennifer Lopez and the Paramoun+ series "The Offer." His downfall from Hollywood and accusations became the subject of a Discovery+ docuseries "House of Hammer." 

Two years later, prosecutors in Los Angeles County said Hammer would not face criminal charges in the case involving Effie. Following their decision, Hammer said in a deleted Instagram post that he was looking forward to "what will be a long, difficult process of putting my life back together now that my name is cleared."

On the recent podcast, he revealed that he was "never in a place where I was happy with myself" before the accusations and explained how they caused "an ego death, a career death," prompting him to eventually turn to rehab and a 12-step program. 

"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. I'm still here. I still have my health and I'm really grateful for that." 

Christopher Brito

Christopher Brito is a social media manager and trending content writer for CBS News.