'I am massively in debt': Armie Hammer contemplated suicide after sexual misconduct accusations

Armie Hammer says he contemplated suicide after he was accused of sexual misconduct.

The 36-year-old actor — who has children Harper, eight, and six-year-old Ford with ex-wife Elizabeth Chambers — is currently under investigation after he was accused of raping a woman as well as allegedly coercing others to engage in aggressive sexual activities and denies any wrongdoing but as he spoke out about the battle for the first time, admitted he had considered taking his own life whilst in the Cayman Islands after the allegations surfaced more than two years ago.

He said: "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. Then I realised that my kids were still on shore, and that I couldn't do that to my kids."

The Call Me By Your Name star went on to add that he has been left "massively in debt" by his legal battles despite once having had a reported net worth of US$10 million (S$13.2 million) and even had to ask a friend to step in to pay for his groceries.

He said: "My financial status is I am not only broke; I am massively in debt. I did get a loan from my family to pay for some legal fees and there was a point in all of this where I had to have a friend help me buy groceries."

Armie went on to explain that in the modern world of cancel culture, there is "no room for redemption" as he mentioned Robert Downey Jr — who was arrested multiple times in the late 1990s on drug charges and spent several spells in jail before going through rehabilitation — and worries that he will never be hired again whatever the outcome of his legal troubles.

He told Airmail News: "There are examples everywhere, Robert being one of them, of people who went through those things and found redemption through a new path. And that, I feel like, is what's missing in this cancel-culture, woke-mob business. The minute anyone does anything wrong, they're thrown away. There's no chance for rehabilitation. There's no chance for redemption. Someone makes a mistake, and we throw them away like a broken disposable camera. Robert and others are examples of what it looks like for a human being to experience pain and then growth. And that aspect of it is something that I aspire to.

"No one will hire me. No one will insure me. I can't get bonded for a project-nothing," he says.

"And no one will touch me because if they hire me, then they are the people who support abusers. And then they're liable to get cancelled themselves because this fire that is burning itself through town - when they throw someone like me on the fire to protect themselves, what they don't realise is happening is all they're doing is making the fire bigger. And that fire is now out of control and it's going to burn everyone. And they're just continually throwing people on it as sacrifices to protect themselves."

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A young woman known as Effie alleges she met Hammer on Facebook when she was 20, and admitted to falling in love with the actor, although she now believes she fell victim to "manipulation tactics".

Armie denied the allegations on the same day the press conference was held, and his lawyer has provided screenshots of alleged text conversations between him and Effie which seemingly suggest he told her they couldn't pursue a relationship, though these are not verified.

In one message, Hammer allegedly told Effie: "I am not going to be able to engage in you in that specific way right now. It never ends well. We can talk and be friends, but I can't do that."

The actor's lawyer also said Hammer's encounter with Effie was "completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory".