Armie Hammer has adamantly denied allegations of rape and abuse brought forth by a former partner.
On Thursday, March 18, Gloria Allred and a woman by the name of Effie, who declined to give her last name, spoke to the press about her alleged relationship with the actor.
During the press conference, Effie alleged their relationship began in 2016 after meeting on Facebook. Effie, who was 20 years old at the time, said she "fell in love with him instantly."
As their "relationship progressed rapidly," Effie claimed Hammer used "clear manipulation tactics" as a way to "test my devotion to him." Armie's behavior "became increasingly more violent," she alleged, adding, "He abused me mentally, emotionally and sexually."
During one encounter, Effie claimed Hammer raped her.
"On April 24, 2017, Armie Hammer violently raped me for over four hours in Los Angeles," Effie alleged, "During which he repeatedly slapped my head against a wall bruising my face. He also committed other acts of violence against me to which I did not consent."
The now-24-year-old said, "I thought he was going to kill me."
Effie said she tried to get away from the actor during the alleged encounter, but he injured her feet "so they would hurt" when she walked.
In response to the allegations, Hammer's attorney Andrew Brettler issued a statement to E! News that provides Effie's full name. E! News has chosen to not include her last name, abiding by a request she made during the press conference.
"Effie's own correspondence with Mr. Hammer undermines and refutes her outrageous allegations," Brettler said. "Mr. Hammer responded making it clear that he did not want to maintain that type of relationship with her."
According to a screenshot of their alleged correspondence from July 2020 provided to E! News by Brettler, Effie described her explicit sexual desires. Armie allegedly responded to Effie, "I am not going to be able to engage in you in that specific way right now. It never ends well. We can talk and be friends, but I can't do that."
"It was never Mr. 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. With the truth on his side, Mr. Hammer welcomes the opportunity to set the record straight," the statement continued. "From day one, Mr. Hammer has maintained that all of his interactions with [Effie]—and every other sexual partner of his for that matter—have been completely consensual, discussed and agreed upon in advance, and mutually participatory. [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."
Allred responded to Hammer's statement on her client's behalf, stating, "While many of their encounters were consensual, Effie was very upset to read that Mr. Hammer's lawyers stated about allegations from a number of women that, 'All of his sexual activities outside of marriage were completely consensual in that they were fully discussed, agreed upon and mutually participatory.'"
She continued, "It is important to emphasize that even if a sexual partner agrees to certain sexual activity, she still has a right at any point to withdraw her consent. If she does withdraw her consent and asks her partner to stop for any reason, he is legally and morally obligated to stop. If he does not stop, he is then at risk of committing a crime against her."
Additionally, Allred stated Effie "has provided her evidence to law enforcement and she encourages others to also provide evidence to them if they believe that their evidence might assist in an investigation of Mr. Hammer."
"I challenge Armie Hammer to present all, not some, of his communications with Effie to the Los Angeles Police Department and answer all of their questions directly rather than through his lawyers," Allred said.
On Thursday, March 18, a Los Angeles Police Department spokesperson confirmed to E! News Hammer is the "main suspect" of an investigation into rape and assault allegations. According to the spokesperson, the LAPD's Operations-West Bureau, Special Assault Section began investigating the actor after they were "contacted by an attorney representing a female community member" on Feb. 3, 2021.
The spokesperson did not specify if the investigation is related to the allegations brought forward by Effie.
Since breaking off their relationship, Effie said she has struggled to process what allegedly took place, adding, "I tried to dismiss his actions towards me as a twisted form of love."
Allred declined to comment on whether Effie is the anonymous user behind the Instagram account @houseofeffie, where several unverified private messages were posted online that were claimed to be from Hammer.
On Jan. 10 the user posted, "Ok ok, I admit it. It's all fake. But it was funny wasn't it?" before claiming that they never wrote that statement. Instead, the user accused Hammer's "crazy fans" of doctoring the aforementioned message.
In late January, Hammer's ex-girlfriend, Paige Lorenze, spoke to E! News about her "polyamorous open relationship" with the actor, who she began seeing last September.
Paige described how their romance "moved extremely fast," saying he "slowly started easing her into BDSM-related activities in the bedroom." He also introduced her to "high protocol nights," which she said she consented to.
"It's like a very traditional thing in BDSM, apparently, to call it high protocol where you have to show up at a certain time, and there are certain rules and stuff," she explained. "Our first high protocol night, which is what he called it, I was in a lot of pain and it was scary, but I just felt like that was a part of what it was."
Paige claimed that Hammer used BDSM tools like a wooden paddle during those nights, alleging, "He would have instruments and use his hands and bite me all over my body."
The model went on to explain she ended her relationship with the actor after he became "controlling" about who she was hanging out with and who was in her life. "I was feeling anxious and always was kind of feeling sick to my stomach," she added. "And I knew that I just needed to get out."
As for why she spoke out about her experience with the star, she shared, "I know now the best thing that you can ever do for yourself is learning how to say no and it's really hard and it takes a lot of growth, but if you do that, you're so much less vulnerable... I think there needs to be more sex education in general."