It was on January 12th of 2021 that the first allegations against Armie Hammer surfaced, when an anonymous person behind the Instagram account named “houseofeffie” made claims of sexual abuse, violence and cannibalism. Only days later, more women were sharing stories of the same nature against Hammer, albeit this time, screenshots of messages sent by his private Instagram account backed up the allegations. Much of the world was sent into a media frenzy, shocked at the horrible allegations and of the idea that a previously admired actor had been hiding a life-sized and despicable secret. And yet, one person that didn’t seem too dismayed with the news, was Armie’s aunt, Casey Hammer.
Casey knew all too well that the stories of the brave women who came forward were not only accurate, but they were also all too familiar. Casey herself is no stranger with the abuse caused by the Hammer men, as she was subjected to it by her own father. Back in 2015, Casey published her book, Surviving My Birthright, in which she detailed the horrid and brutal experiences she lived through, being born with the Hammer family name. She reveals the many secrets and abuses of power of the Hammer men, which she states have been passed down generation to generation.
Fast forward to September 2022, Discovery+ has released a three-part docu-series, titled ‘House of Hammer,’ where Casey herself, as well as two victims, Julia Morrison and Courtney Vucekovich, share their personal experiences with Armie and the Hammer men. In an exclusive interview with Casey, she reveals that it was never her intention to contribute or create a series based on her family, “I was down in San Diego, working at Home Depot as a kitchen designer, living just a very quiet life when one of my co-workers was like, “Casey, you better get on TikTok because someone by the name of The Zen Blonde is blowing your life up.” And I was like, “What?”” Less than two months later, the producers of the docu-series reached out to Casey and asked if she wanted to share her story.
“And that was kind of how it began because I was contacted when my nephew was imploding on social media. And people wanted me to be a soundbite and I didn’t want to do that because I knew he would self-destruct on his own,” she admits to GRAZIA. “If people are going to hear me or talk to me, I want them to know that I want to be an advocate for victims and survivors, that’s the direction I want to take this journey. And if I can continue to share my story and help others heal, then I’m doing my job.”
Watch the trailer of House Of Hammer below.
Casey went on to reveal that the abuse brought on by the Hammer men was multi-generational. “The men in my family, for the last 61 years, have been getting away with so much that I detail a lot more in my book,” she says.
“House of Hammer shows how men with power and fame and money can buy their way out of anything.”
When the allegations against her nephew were first brought about, Casey seemingly wasn’t surprised at all. “It wasn’t a shock to me because I had witnessed that based on how I grew up.” Casey then went on to share some of her personal experiences with abuse, accusing her father of sexually abusing her, as well as holding a gun to her head at a drug-induced party, when she was only 11 years-old.
“It’s a lot of horrific scenes that people probably don’t understand when they watch it. But to me, that was my normal,” she says about the docu-series.
“Just because your parents give birth to you and pretend to love you, it doesn’t mean that they can do whatever they want, because it truly does mold who you become and how you grow up and what your normal is.”
Casey, who is estranged from her family, says she hasn’t been in contact with them since her mother passed away about 15 years ago. “My mother was the glue that kind of kept our fake family all together… And then once she passed away, we all went our separate ways, which is for the best,” she shared.
In the trailer of the docu-series, Casey Hammer boldly states, “If you believe in making deals with the devil, then the Hammers are on top of the totem pole.” In reference to such a brutal statement, Casey shares that her grandfather was known for his extravagant parties in Hollywood, sharing that “2,000 of his closest friends” would attend, including royalty, heads of states, presidents and movie stars. She goes on to explain how this only proved the Hammer name’s influence in the hierarchy, “so we were exposed to all of that and watching how he publicly created an illusion -or I used to call it a fairy-tale – of what the Hammers were about. And women were disposable.”
It’s no secret that the Hammer men have been nurtured to think that they can get away with their abusive power -and power of abuse- generation to generation, and Casey seems to agree. “You don’t just wake up one day and become a monster. Basically, it’s a learned behavior. So early on when my father -which you’ll see in House of Hammer- killed someone, my grandfather got him off on self-defense and paid someone off to make it go away. And I remember my mother telling me it wasn’t self defense. He got angry and pulled out a gun and shot him and my mother, right in front of her.”
“It’s almost like a badge of honour that they wear like, “Yeah. See what I can do. I can bury you. I can make you disappear. I can make your life miserable.”
Casey goes on to remind us that the House of Hammer isn’t about Armie Hammer and any possibility of his personal redemption. “The focus needs to be on the victims and the path of the women he left behind because hopefully, if there is anyone else out there, they can see the courage from the victims that came forward and the people that corroborated a lot of the behavior in the docu-series comes forward with. It’s about holding people accountable.”
“I’m hoping that after all of this, instead of looking at it from Armie’s point of view, or the shock value of what he’s done, it’s like, how can we help these women? These women, they’re kind of left in the dust and forgotten and we need to let them know that they can’t be forgotten, that there needs to be a safe space where they can come and talk and just share,” she concludes.
House of Hammer will be available to watch on StarzPlay in the Middle East, from Saturday 29th of September 2022.
