Armie Hammer has appeared on The Louis Theroux Podcast this week and took the opportunity to address some of the darkest rumours and allegations he has faced over the years, including those of cannibalism and assault.

In true Theroux fashion, he put the flesh-eating question to the actor in no uncertain terms, asking ‘Are you a cannibal?’. In true Hammer fashion, he answered rather bizarrely. ‘You know what you have to do to actually be a cannibal? You have to actually eat human flesh,’ he said. ‘So no.’

He went on to say that he has eaten an animal’s entire heart, saying ‘You take a bite out of the heart, and you’ve got all your buddies around you, they’re goading you on… it’s sort of like an almost overly charged male rite of passage when you go hunting for your first time.’

In 2021, Hammer was accused of having harmful sexual fantasies, including those involving cannibalism, as well as sexual assault and abuse, all of which he denies. The actor was first accused of rape and physically abusive behaviour by a woman known as Effie. She shared screenshots of graphic texts allegedly sent by Hammer, and in one he appears to declare himself a cannibal.

Following Effie’s accusations, at least two other former partners of Hammer’s came forward with accusations of sexual coercion and emotional abuse dating between 2017 and 2020, including his ex-girlfriend, Paige Lorenze.

Hammer previously denied all allegations and the authorities in LA country declined to pursue the sexual assault charges. The actor told Theroux that he is ‘not going to argue the messages’ which were shared online, but said they were only ‘one side of a conversation’ and that ‘it [was] fun to joke if I was stoned or drunk or like laughing as I was typing’.

When asked about the allegations of abusive behaviour, Hammer had some alarming self-reflections to share. ‘I’m very quick to admit that I was selfish, and inconsiderate, and an a-hole, and a cad, and I used people to make me feel better,’ he admitted. In one particularly galling confession he said that ‘people were sort of like my bags of dope with skin on them’.

‘You make me feel amazing, so I’m going to throw everything into this, and we’re going to have this whirlwind romance, and I’m going to whisk you up, and we’re going to go on trips, and we’re going to do all this, and then I’m going to bring you home and I’m going to go, “Thanks so much, that was great,” and then I’m going to move on,’ he told Theroux.

Hammer can now recognise this behaviour as ‘love bombing’. ‘I left a lot of people in that wake very angry at me for my behaviour… Asshole behaviour. There’s no way around that,’ he added. ‘Does that make me a dick? Absolutely. I have no problem admitting that. I was a dick. That’s not illegal.’

He seems to chalk up his sexual dalliances to being ‘a bit of a provocateur’ and said his actions were often exacerbated by alcohol or drugs, adding that ‘it’s fun to push the envelope little by little’.

Shortly after the scandal that saw Hammer accused of cannibalism and sexual assault, his Hollywood career understandably took a downward turn. In the podcast episode, he explains that he then entered a trauma treatment facility, which he described as ‘one of the most helpful things’ he’s ever done for himself. He also took up a short-term job selling timeshares in the Cayman Islands and worked as a school greenskeeper and an apartment block manager.

Four years later, his career has seemingly returned. He has just wrapped a film in the US and he has new offers coming in every week. Still, Hammer has his own musings to share about ‘cancel culture’.

For one, he says he can’t point blank say he’d refuse to work with Woody Allen – the decorated director who was accused of sexually molesting his adopted daughter Dylan Farrow by his ex-partner Mia Farrow – because he doesn’t know if he ‘buys into any of the cancel’. Dylan has repeated the allegation several times herself as an adult, but Allen has always denied it and he was exonerated following an investigation. Allen is currently married to Soon-Yi Previn, who was previously his other adopted daughter.

‘If I say, “No, I would never work with Woody Allen,” then all I’m doing is saying, “I believe in this system that cancels people,’” suggests Hammer. ‘I think what I would honestly do is I’d say, I’d like to sit down with him first, and I’d like to talk to him.’

Hammer’s hiatus from mainstream fame might have forced him into a period of reckoning and reflection, but it has emboldened him in many ways too. Against all odds – and, ironically, the very idea that ‘cancel culture’ exists – he is working again, sharing his ideas on a mainstream podcast and seems entirely unafraid to be himself.