Armie Hammer’s Accuser Is Rolling Her Eyes at His New Interview

“It seems so manipulative, because he knows his ocean story shut me up last time and evoked sympathy, and now he’s trying it again," said Effie Angelova.

By Kylie Cheung | February 7, 2023 | 5:15pm

Entertainment

Armie Hammer’s Accuser Is Rolling Her Eyes at His New Interview

Photo:Todd Williamson/Getty Images, houseofeffie/Instagram

Effie Angelova, a woman who accused Armie Hammer of “violently raping” her in 2017, responded to Hammer’s recent interview in a series of Instagram stories calling his latest interview with Air Mail “manipulative.” The interview was Hammer’s first since the actor was accused of physical and emotional abuse by multiple women. Unsurprisingly, Hammer centered himself and his own victimhood in the conversation, disclosing that he’d experienced suicidal ideation in the wake of the allegations against him and attempted to walk into the ocean. He also shared that he’d been sexually abused by a priest as a child.

On Monday, Angelova claimed Hammer was simply saying whatever he needed to say to “evoke sympathy” and that many of his statements were similar or identical to his responses to her when she first confronted him about the alleged assault over text. “Armie told me his ocean story,” she wrote. “It made me so worried about him, he made me feel bad for telling him his abuse messed me up and it made me want to take care of him instead.” Now, Angelova notes, Hammer appears to be claiming that his attempt to walk into the ocean happened after she came forward about his alleged abuse. “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.”

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Angelova also shared a series of screenshots of WhatsApp messages between herself and Hammer in which she appears to comfort him after he shared his “ocean story” and texts in which he tells Angelova he’s “sorry you are going through all of this and I’m sorry your parents have gotten so involved.”

“I completely understand why you are upset and your parents are,” he wrote.

In March 2021, Angelova first came forward and alleged that Hammer “violently raped” her for four hours in April 2017, prompting an ongoing investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department. In Hammer’s interview published over the weekend, he claimed “this alleged rape was a scene that was her idea,” alleging that Angelova had initiated “what is called a ‘consensual non-consent scene,’ CNC.”

“She planned all of the details out, all the way down to what Starbucks I would see her at, how I would follow her home, how her front door would be open and unlocked, and I would come in,” Hammer said. He further claimed that all of his encounters, which other women had characterized as violating and abusive, were also consensual.

As Angelova pointed out in her Instagram stories, Hammer’s interview appears to take a page from the responses of many famous men accused of abuse before him—specifically, by framing themselves as the real victims while attempting to center the conversation around how abuse allegations have impacted them, rather than the experiences of the women alleging harm. All too often, famous men accused of abuse choose to speak publicly about their mental health struggles, substance use struggles, or past traumas only in the wake of allegations against them.

Last year, Discovery+ released a documentary series, House of Hammer, unpacking the varying allegations against Hammer, featuring interviews with two women who say Hammer physically and emotionally abused them. These allegations are a launching point into unpacking his family’s long history of scandals and alleged abuse. Angelova previously spoke out against the three-part series at the time, telling the Los Angeles Times in September: “The way they’ve been exploiting my trauma is disgusting. When I keep screaming ‘no’ and they keep going, saying they don’t need my permission, they remind me of Armie.”