Discovery+ Documentary ‘House Of Hammer’ Will Expose Armie Hammer’s Alleged Abuse And His Family’s Alleged Ties To Soviet Elites

*Warning: This article describes disturbing and violent accusations.*

In January 2021, the Instagram account @houseofeffie published disturbing screenshots that Armie Hammer allegedly sent to several women from 2016 to 2020, including fantasies of cannibalism and rape. The woman who runs the account goes by the pseudonym Effie and claims that Armie violently raped her "over the course of four hours" in 2017. The post led to more women coming forward, forcing Armie to withdraw from his current projects and check into rehab.

The scandal is the premise behind the Discovery+ documentary, House of Hammer. Though Armie’s behavior is incredibly disturbing, the documentary claims it runs in his family.

From criminal cover-ups to ties with Soviet dictators, the Hammer family is ridden with scandal. The documentary will detail the allegations against Armie and the disturbing secrets of the Hammer family. 

Armie Hammer’s Cannibalism and Abuse Allegations

The documentary features two of Armie’s accusers, Courtney Vucekovich and Julia Morrison. Courtney is a famous social media influencer and was one of the first to come forward with allegations in January 2021, and Julia is an artist and writer who went viral in April 2021 for selling her disturbing text message screenshots from Armie as NFT art. 

Courtney claims that she and Armie started dating in the summer of 2020, shortly after his wife, Elizabeth Chambers, filed for divorce. Courtney said that Armie messaged her on Instagram and the two bonded over having difficult childhoods. While describing her relationship to Vanity Fair, Courtney said, “Day one, he makes you feel bad for him; it’s when he makes himself look like a victim. Then he love-bombs you like crazy; you’ve never felt more special in your entire life. I’ve never seen anything like it. We’re in a restaurant, and I’m sitting across from him, and he pulls my chair over, right next to him, in front of everybody – and is hugging and kissing you. You’re the only girl in the whole world. And then he starts the manipulation and the darker stuff.”

She continued, “One of the most shocking things, that I realized he did to other women, is he says that he never tied up a human being before, only mannequins,” she continued. “I remember thinking, like, That’s got to be true because that’s the weirdest f****** thing I’ve ever heard. Who would lie about that? That’s weirder than saying, ‘I tied up 25 people.’”

He begins as the victim, then love bombs you, then starts the manipulation and darker stuff.

Courtney also alleges that Armie said he was a cannibal and told her that he "wants to break my rib and barbeque and eat it." She left Armie after three months of abuse and entered a treatment center for trauma, where she stayed for a couple of months.

Another public accuser is model and Instagram influencer Paige Lorenze. Though Paige doesn’t appear to be in the documentary, her claims were disturbing enough to make headlines and are worth discussing. Paige came into the picture shortly after Courtney left, and she also received an Instagram DM from Armie, and the relationship quickly turned violent when he introduced her to BDSM. 

She told Daily Mail, “I want Armie to address his demons, see the pain and trauma that he has caused me and other women. He told me there’s a whole community that will do this stuff, that it was not criminal. He really thought that his fantasies were normal behavior in the BDSM, non-normative, sexual kink community. I thought that this is what it was. I thought I was safe. But any man who is fantasizing about crushing bones, eating them, having sex with female limp bodies is a danger to all women.”

She continued, "He is saying people are kink shaming him and should not comment on his sex life, but BDSM is a smoke screen for him wanting to hurt women. You can be just as traumatized by consensual sex. It’s unacceptable that he coerces women into agreeing to let him hurt them.”

Paige also alleges that Armie carved his initial, “A,” near her pubic bone during one sexual encounter. She has left many of the pictures she took during their relationship on Instagram, and many of them show visible bruises.

The Hammer Family’s History of Abuse

In the documentary trailer, Armie’s aunt, Casey Hammer, who has been estranged from her family for years says, “On the outside, we were the perfect family, but magnify Succession a million times, and it was my family.”

She believes that being an abusive man might run in the family, for she continued, “If you believe in making deals with the devil, the Hammers are at the top of the totem pole. Every generation of my family has been involved in dark misdeeds.” 

She might not be far off because the Hammer family has connections to some of the most notorious political figures of the 20th century, as well as a family history of abuse and bizarre sexual behavior. We won’t cover all of the accusations because that would make this article longer than a Tolstoy novel, but here are some of the craziest accusations against the men of the Hammer family.

The Hammer family can trace its roots back to Russia. Armie has spoken about his family’s Russian roots in the past but left out some very dark and disturbing details. Armie’s great-grandfather, Julius, was a Russian immigrant living in New York, a doctor, and co-founder of the American Communist Party when he performed an illegal abortion on the wife of a Russian diplomat in 1919. After the diplomat’s wife died, Julius was found guilty of manslaughter and was sentenced to "three and a half to twelve years in prison."

Julius’ son, Armand, was not a communist but moved to Russia during his father’s imprisonment. When he was 24 and took over Julius’ prior business, Allied Drug, Armand traveled to Russia to "fortify family connections." According to Edward Jay Epstein, author of Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammer, Armand was involved with the Soviet government and was referred to as "Lenin's chosen capitalist." Lenin encouraged Soviet General Secretary Joseph Stalin to “support” Armand because he was a “small path to the American business world and this path should be made use in every way.”

According to The New York Times Magazine, Armand was able to secure much of his wealth due to his ties to the Soviet government, including ties with Lenin and Stalin. In a 1981 article, Edward Jay Epstein wrote, "The most remarkable thing about Armand Hammer is that he created this personal empire largely by negotiating extraordinary deals with nations that have usually been hostile to the United States – and even more hostile to American capitalists. The son of one of the founders of the American Communist Labor Party, Hammer became a multimillionaire capitalist, thanks in large measure to his relations with the leaders of the Soviet Union. He has maintained cordial relations with Soviet leaders for more than half a century, providing Moscow with a vital link to Western industry and technology. (Six years ago Soviet leader Leonid I. Brezhnev gave Hammer a luxurious Moscow apartment, and Kremlin officials have proposed that he be named United States ambassador to the Soviet Union. Such recommendations have made some members of the Reagan Administration uneasy. Says one member of the President's inner circle, who asked not to be identified by name, ‘We simply don't know which side of the fence Hammer is on.’)”

Armie’s grandfather was involved with the Soviet government and was known as "Lenin's chosen capitalist.”

After living in Russia for a while, Armand moved to Los Angeles and became an oil tycoon by investing in Occidental Petroleum. This is just the tip of the iceberg of Armand’s scandalous behavior, as he has also been accused of funding Soviet spies, bribery, laundering money, and funding the Watergate scandal. Armand died in 1990, leaving behind one son, Julian.

Julian Hammer also lived a scandalous life. In 1955, Julian killed a man allegedly due to gambling debts, but charges were dropped (allegedly due to bribery). His daughter, Casey, accused him of sexual, emotional, and physical abuse in her 2015 self-published memoir, Surviving My Birthright. Casey believes that Julian’s public misdeeds prevented him from inheriting Armand’s fortune, which was passed on to Julian’s son, Michael.

Michael inherited Armand’s estate in 1990 and moved his wife and children (including Armie) to the Cayman Islands after his father’s death in 1996 and is known for partying and being a womanizer. His first wife and mother to Armie, Dru, is a devout Christian and it’s said her presence helped calm his struggles with drugs and alcohol. Not much is known about the Hammers’ time in the Cayman Islands, but they returned to Los Angeles 10 years later. Michael has since been involved in shady business deals (one involving art fraud) and is alleged to have a bizarre sexual appetite.

According to Vanity Fair, “Michael boasted about a sex throne or ‘naughty chair,’ as he has called it, that he kept in Armand Hammer Foundation headquarters in Carpinteria – a warehouse where two people claim Michael lived for several years after his divorce. The structure, about seven feet high, features a chair with a hole in the seat, a cage underneath, and a hook. The Hammer coat of arms – the same one that, for years, adorned the exterior of the headquarters – is painted on the seat. In one photo Michael sits atop the throne grinning while holding the head of a blonde woman, sitting in the cage and also smiling.”

Though Michael denies these claims, one can’t deny that it falls in line with the strange behavior exhibited by the Hammer men throughout the years.

Closing Thoughts

The Hammer family is riddled with scandal and abuse, and it appears that disgraced actor Armie Hammer is the latest victim of the familial curse. House of Hammer is available to stream on Discovery+ on September 2.

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