Armie Hammer admits he 'cut heart out of living animal and took a bite out of it' - but denies ever being a cannibal

Armie Hammer has admitted that he 'cut the heart out of a living animal and took a bite out of it' as he denied being a cannibal. 

The actor, 38, very publicly fell from grace in 2021 when a series of disturbing allegations were made against him by multiple women, who accused him of violent abuse and harbouring cannibalism fantasies. He was investigated by the LAPD in 2023 but ultimately not charged. 

Speaking on The Louis Theroux Podcast on Tuesday, Armie discussed the allegations and how his life has changed since. 

Louis asked during the chat if Armie was in fact a cannibal, to which he replied: 'You know what you have to do to actually be a cannibal? 

'You have to actually eat human flesh. So no'. 

But he did admit to having taken a bite out of the heart of an animal as part of a hunting ritual. 

Louis asked about reports Armie had 'cut the heart out of a living animal before and eaten it while still warm', to which he replied: 'You don’t eat the whole heart, you don’t do that. 

'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. 

'Everyone that I know who went hunting for their first time had to do something similar.'  

'So you did that?' Louis asked, as Armie confirmed: 'Yeah. Not for the purpose of any cannibalism or any sexual gratification, no.'

Elsewhere in the chat, Armie bizarrely compared himself to a 'comedian making jokes' while discussing the cannibalism scandal than ended his once flourishing Hollywood career. 

Armie pointed out that only his messages had been been made public while the recipients were cut out making them lack context, but compared his comments to a comedian 'pushing the boundaries'. 

He said: 'Any digitally altered evidence is immediately inadmissible [in court] because you have no context. You, like, that could have been a very funny conversation between two people who were joking and pushing each other and egging each other on'. 

'In the way that sometimes you see comedians pushing the boundary further and further when they're having a conversation. I'm not going to argue the messages'. 

The actor, who entered rehab following the scandal, blamed his disturbing messages on his nature being 'exacerbated' by alcohol and drugs as well as wanting to 'push the envelope' while in the bedroom.

'Did I ever have any intention of cutting anything off of anyone or eating anything off of anyone? No. There was never really anything that I wanted. Was it fun to joke about if I was stoned or drunk or like laughing as I was typing these messages? Sure.' 

Before adding: 'That's where context comes in. You make jokes, I'm sure, with your friends that if I took your phone, and made them public, and removed your friend's half of the jokes, you would probably be in hot water'.

Last month the actor claimed he's now living in a 'tiny apartment' as he works to rebuild his career, and reflected on the whirlwind of the controversy and how it captivated the public during the COVID-19 lockdown. 

Speaking on Your Mama's House podcast, he said: 'The world seemed like it was falling apart, and people were just deeply unhappy with their own lives,' he said. 'Then this salacious story comes out about an actor wanting to murder and eat people. And all of a sudden, everyone’s like, "Oh, this is so much more fun to focus on than the fact that I can’t leave my living room".'

Armie went on to explain how the media storm spiralled as more stories emerged, adding, 'If anyone took anyone's bedroom conversations, even if it was completely vanilla, and read it out of context, everyone would go, "You guys are f---ing disgusting".'

He also revealed how the scandal hit his finances and mental health. 

'I was so broke, I had to sell my truck because I couldn’t afford gas anymore,' he shared. 

When asked if he was losing his mind during the fallout, he admitted: 'I was just in full panic mode.'

He explained how the persona he had built up was shattered, leaving him exposed and vilified: 'There would be articles in The Punjabi Times about how I was a cannibal...and in March 2021, I was the fifth most-searched person on Google, and all of it was negative.'

Describing the toll it took on him, Armie said: 'You’re just left standing there naked in front of the world, with all your proclivities and kinks being judged. That sh** is tough.'

Armie also reflected on his past behaviour with women, admitting that he used them to feed his ego. 

'People were my bags of dope with skin on it,' he said on the podcast. 'Having people want to have sex with me gave me a sense of power and validation.'

He confessed to using women for his own gratification and leaving them feeling used, explaining: 'I would scoop these girls up, take them on whirlwind trips, have great sex, and then just bounce, leaving them feeling like they were sucked into this tornado.'

The actor, who has previously shared his own trauma of being sexually assaulted by a pastor at 13, revealed he’s been in therapy and reflecting on his actions. 

He also spoke about his children, who he recently spent the holidays with, acknowledging that they might one day feel the effects of his actions. 

"I'm well aware that my daughter and son are gonna get to a point where they do therapy, and they’ll say, "I hate my dad, too".'  

He shares two children, daughter Harper and son Ford, with his ex-wife Elizabeth Chambers, and they have been co-parenting since their 2020 split.

Despite the fallout, Armie recently shot a film, Frontier Crucible, with William H. Macy. 

'I wouldn't say I’m back,' he said, 'But I'm working.'

The Louis Theroux Podcast is available on Spotify now.