Hammer said the man gave him life-altering advice after he became upset when Hollywood friends privately texted him, but didn’t offer public support.

Armie Hammer explains how ‘old Jamaican guy’ helped him get over famous friends’ lack of public support amid scandal

Hammer said the man gave him life-altering advice after he became upset when Hollywood friends privately texted him, but didn't offer public support.

Joey Nolfi

Joey Nolfi is a senior writer at *. *Since 2016, his work at EW includes RuPaul’s Drag Race video interviews, Oscars predictions, and more.

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June 16, 2026 10:48 a.m. ET

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Armie Hammer on 'The Late Late Show With James Corden'. Credit:

Terence Patrick/CBS

- Armie Hammer opened up in a new interview about his life after scandals involving abuse and rape allegations (which he denied).

- The actor said he was initially frustrated after his online cancellation when famous friends texted him in private, but didn't publicly support him.

- Hammer said an "old Jamaican guy" eventually helped him get over his anger with a key piece of advice.

Disgraced *Call Me by Your Name* actor Armie Hammer has revealed that, after he retreated to the Cayman Islands in the aftermath of both the coronavirus pandemic and fallout from a scandal in which he was accused of (and denied) abuse and sexual assault, an "old Jamaican guy" helped him through a key point of distress.

Shortly after the 2022 death of his wealthy businessman father, the actor was in an even more vulnerable emotional state. Hammer told *The Hollywood Reporter* that he was still angry at some of his famous friends (whom he didn't name) for offering support via private texts, but failing to speak out on his behalf after his career imploded in the wake of the aforementioned controversy.

Hammer described the life-altering encounter he had with “an old Jamaican guy" after his father, Michael, died, explaining that he complained to the man about his frustration over his friends' lack of public support.

Armie Hammer in 2025.

Michael Buckner/Getty

“What kind of friend are you?” Hammer said of the man's words to him, before explaining that the man offered up a scenario that put things into perspective for him, which *THR* paraphrased as: "Your house is burning down right now, in real time. You want your friends to run into a burning house? What happens to them if they do?"

Hammer said that he told the man, "They get burned,” and the man then asked him, "Do you want your friends to get burned?”

“So if you were really a good friend, what would you want your friends to do?” he asked Hammer, who replied, "I would want them to stay as far away from the fire as possible.”

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He said the Jamaican man patted his leg as he told him, "Now you’re thinking like a real friend."

Hammer called the exchange "a spiritual moment" for him. “Joseph Campbell would have called it a mentor moment in my hero’s journey, whatever the f--- that is," he added.

The actor also reflected on the challenges he faced outside of his famous friends failing to support him in public, including moving to a studio apartment, a lack of financial support from his family, and his divorce from ex-wife Elizabeth Chambers amid the scandal.

He also said that work dried up so intensely that he “would have done a f---ing cat food commercial" because he "just wanted to work again" after he lost out on roles and parted ways with his Hollywood team at WME amid the scandal.

Armie Hammer in 'Call Me by Your Name'.

According to the 39-year-old, Hammer is now represented by an entertainment attorney who primarily works on contracts. The actor said he recently asked the rep to make calls on his behalf, though the rep replied, “That’s not really what I do.”

Hammer's career took a hit in 2021, after several women accused him of abuse — including the reveal of texts allegedly attributed to Hammer in which there were discussions of cannibalistic fantasies. In 2024, Hammer responded to the cannibalism claims in a podcast interview. “People called me a cannibal," he said. "Like I ate people! What?! You know what you have to do to be a cannibal? You have to eat people!”

A woman with whom he had an affair while married to Chambers also accused him of rape, though a subsequent criminal investigation was ultimately closed without charges, and Hammer has vehemently denied the accusation of sexual abuse and rape.

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At the time, his attorney, Andrew Brettler, said in a statement to EW that the woman's "own correspondence with Mr. Hammer undermines and refutes her outrageous allegations. 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."

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