A woman who accused Armie Hammer of rape in 2021 has extensively addressed the actor’s recent Air Mail interview, notably calling his sharing of an alleged suicide attempt a “manipulative” move.
Amid a series of Instagram updates and tweets in recent days, Effie Angelova—who previously alleged, among other accused acts of violence, that Hammer raped her in 2017—addressed Hammer’s “ocean story.” This is a reference to a moment in the interview mentioned above in which the actor said he tried to kill himself in February 2021 by walking into the ocean and swimming out “as far as I could.” At the time, Hammer further claimed, he was hoping that he would either drown, get “hit by a boat,” or be “eaten by a shark.”
“Years ago I told Armie how some of his abuse of me had affected not only me, but my family,” Angelova wrote on Instagram. “His response was that he was sorry my parents had ‘gotten so involved.’ They weren’t ‘involved.’ He was just sorry that I was telling my family.”
This was allegedly followed by Hammer telling Angelova the same “ocean story,” which she says worried her at the time.
“Now he claims his ocean story happened after I spoke out publicly,” she wrote. “It seems so manipulative because he knows his ocean story shut me up last time and evoked sympathy and it’s like now he’s trying it again. I think on some level he feels guilty.”
As mentioned in a TMZ piece on Tuesday, it was previously reported that criminal charges against Hammer were not likely. As for the current status of such developments, Complex has reached out to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. This story may be updated.
Hammer, meanwhile, has denied allegations of physical abuse, arguing in previous statements and in the recent Air Mail interview that any sexual interactions have been consensual. In a follow-up piece, Air Mail editors Graydon Carter and Alessandra Stanley opened up about their decision to share the controversial James Kirchick-penned Hammer story, which marked the actor’s first interview since the allegations first went public.
“This report may not change how Hammer is seen, but it does give a fuller, more detailed and fact-checked version of how the movie star turned into a Hollywood pariah without a single legal charge made against him,” the two co-editors said.
