Content warning: this article discusses allegations of violence against children, child sex abuse, and intimate partner violence, and may be triggering for survivors.
Disgraced actor Armie Hammer is having a moment for all the wrong reasons. Once one of the most promising young actors of his generation, the star of The Lone Ranger saw his stock fall from dizzying heights after allegations of fetishes like cannibalism and bondage, as well as more serious allegations of abuse and assault made the news.
He’s now under the spotlight again with the new Discovery Plus docuseries House of Hammer. Now, Hammer’s estranged aunt is adding gasoline to the fire by calling out “multi-generational abuse” from the Hammer men over the years.
Casey Hammer said the documentary might focus on Armie Hammer but it showcases the dark side of the family and how wealth and privilege can get out of hand, according to EW.
“It exposes not only Armie, but it exposes my family and what I’ve been saying for the last 61 years about the multi-generational abuse by the men,” Casey said.
Casey is the daughter of Julian Armand Hammer and the granddaughter of industrialist Dr. Armand Hammer. She wrote a memoir called Surviving My Birthright in 2015 that previously highlighted a number of tales in the documentary. She talks about how she watched her father abuse her mother to the point where she bled. She also said her father abused her sexually and put a gun to her head.
She wanted to participate in the documentary, she said, to help the Armie Hammer accusers and give them a voice.
“It exposes not only Armie, but it exposes my family and what I’ve been saying for the last 61 years about the multi-generational abuse by the men. Because I was raised that way, I didn’t know any better. We didn’t have social media. It’s not like I could check to see if there were other wealthy families that were this dysfunctional.”
She also said that Armie Hammer was always the golden boy and also a huge brat when he was a kid becasue of the way everyone treated him.
“He was adorable. He was a tow-head little boy that was gorgeous, but he was a brat. And God forbid you say anything or punish him or do anything… he was the heir apparent, he was the next in line for the throne. I mean, he was a male and he had the name, so you had to respect anything he did.”
The times she did interact with him was always in public, she said, and there was a lot of posturing for the cameras.
“My grandfather had a production company that followed us around everywhere,” she said. “And we were under surveillance whether we were with the family or not.”
The three hour House of Hammer documentary is currently streaming on Discovery Plus.
If you are experiencing domestic abuse, or if you believe someone you know is being abused, contact The National Domestic Violence Hotline. The hotline can be reached at 1-800-799-SAFE or spoken with online via the hotline’s website. Mobile phone owners can also text “START” to the number 88788.
