Confirmed: LAPD Investigating Armie Hammer For Rape And Physical Abuse By First Accuser
Armie Hammer has been confirmed as a suspect in the Los Angeles Police Department's investigation into an alleged instance of sexual assault. On Thursday, March 18 — hours after a woman accused him of rape and physical abuse — a spokesperson for the LAPD said Hammer is being probed for an investigation opened on February 3.
Effie, who made the recent accusations against Hammer, was the woman behind the Instagram account House of Effie that first leaked anonymous messages (that have not been verified), which were allegedly between the shamed Hollywood star and an unnamed woman.
She has since revealed her identity during a press conference with her high-profile attorney, Gloria Allred, to accuse Hammer of sexual assault in a four-hour incident that she claimed occurred in 2017. Effie, who chose to keep her legal name private during the press conference but reportedly goes by the name of Effie Angelova, also accused the 34-year-old of "mentally, emotionally and sexually" abusing her during their on-and-off four-year relationship.
Hammer — who has denied these recent allegations — was married to estranged wife Elizabeth Chambers at the time that their alleged affair took place.
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During the incident in question, Angelova claimed Hammer "violently raped me for over four hours in Los Angeles, during which he repeatedly slammed my head against a wall, bruising my face." She went on to accuse him of other acts of violence, claiming the Call Me By Your Name star "beat my feet with a crop so they would hurt with every step I took for the next week."
According to Angelova, she "tried to get away but he wouldn't let me."
"I thought that he was going to kill me," she candidly admitted, before sharing that she "lived in fear of him," and tried to dismiss his actions as a "twisted form of love." However, now that he "no longer has any power over me, I have come to understand that the immense mental hold he held over me was incredibly damaging on many levels," Angelova added.
During the conference, Angelova claimed to have met Hammer when she was 20 via Facebook and “fell in love with him instantly."
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Following Angelova's shocking statements, Hammer's lawyer, Andrew Brettler, fiercely denied the rape allegation, insisting the actor's relationship with the 24-year-old was "completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory."
“Effie’s own correspondence with Mr. Hammer undermines and refutes her outrageous allegations," Brettler shared in a statement. "As recently as July 18, 2020, [she] sent graphic texts to Mr. Hammer telling him what she wanted him to do to her. Mr. Hammer responded making it clear that he did not want to maintain that type of relationship with her."
He further noted that it was never Hammer's intention to "embarrass or expose [Effie]'s fetishes or kinky sexual desires, but she has now escalated this matter to another level by hiring a civil lawyer to host a public press conference."
"[Effie]'s attention seeking and ill-advised legal bid will only make it more difficult for real victims of sexual violence to get the justice they deserve," Brettler concluded.
During the press conference, Allred said her client turned over evidence to law enforcement. Angelova left it in the hands of the LAPD to decide "if there is sufficient evidence" to file charges against the actor.
"I challenge Armie Hammer to present all, not some, of his communications with Effie to the Los Angeles Police Department and answer all their questions directly rather than through his lawyers," Allred said in response to Brettler's statement.
Angelova's allegations surfaced in January, when she shared the alleged messages from Instagram account House of Effie. The messages discussed violent fantasies, including cannibalism, that were allegedly from Hammer. Since the accusations made headlines, multiple women have come forward alleging he was abusive during their own tumultuous relationships.
Hammer has since left several projects and has been dropped by his agency WME and his publicist.
The shocking accusations against The Social Network actor come months after Hammer and Chambers announced their split over the summer. The former couple share two children.