Armie Hammer clarified ex Paige Lorenze‘s claims that he branded his initials into her lower hip.
“I wouldn’t say brand. No,” Hammer, 37, said during an interview with Piers Morgan set to air on Friday, July 19, according to an excerpt obtained by Page Six. “There was a scenario that we talked about beforehand. I would basically take a little, tiny point and just kind of trace the letter ‘A’ — just like the tip of a small knife.”
Hammer noted that “there wasn’t even blood” in the situation. “It was more like a scrape,” he added. “It’s along the lines of couples getting their own initials tattooed on each other.”
The excerpt from Piers Morgan Uncensored had Morgan, 59, pushing back on Hammer’s claims. The host said that using a knife on someone is “a bit different to a tattoo,” to which Hammer replied, “[It was] less permanent. I guarantee it was such a small thing. I think to some it probably sounds really strange. To some, it probably sounds like a very romantic gesture.”
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Hammer maintained there was nothing “to be gained” in “having a sexual experience” his partner didn’t “appreciate or enjoy.”
“That was also a huge sense of validation for me,” he continued. “Making this person that I’m with feel good, making this person that I’m with — I don’t know if I can say this — climax. Like, these were things that made me feel good and made me feel powerful — which I desperately needed — because I didn’t know how to give them to myself.”
Lorenze, 26, opened up in January 2021 about her two-month relationship with Hammer and accused the actor of carving his initials into her lower hip.
“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,” Lorenze told the Daily Mail at the time. “You can be just as traumatized by consensual sex. It’s unacceptable that he coerces women into agreeing to let him hurt them.”
Lorenze told Page Six that Hammer used a knife to make the letter “A” on her body, which left visible blood and bruises on her.
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“I kind of sat back and let it happen,” she recalled. “I didn’t really know what to do or say. As sad as that is, I wanted him to like me and feel like I was down for what he wanted. … I said, ‘How am I supposed to see other people when I have bruises?’ He said, ‘That’s the point.’ I think it was a part of marking and branding.”
In a statement to Us Weekly, Hammer’s lawyer vehemently denied the allegations.
“These assertions about Mr. Hammer are patently untrue. Any interactions with this person, or any partner of his, were completely consensual in that they were fully discussed, agreed upon, and mutually participatory,” Hammer’s attorney said. “The stories being perpetuated in the media are a misguided attempt to present a one-sided narrative with the goal of tarnishing Mr. Hammer’s reputation, and communications from the individuals involved prove that.”
Lorenze was one of several women who accused Hammer of sending graphic text messages about his sexual fantasies, including rape, mutilation and cannibalism. He was also accused of sexual assault, which Hammer’s attorneys denied at the time. (The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office confirmed in June 2023 that it was not moving forward with the sexual assault charges after a two-year investigation.)
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Earlier this month, Hammer offered an update on how the scandal affected his career.
“[I’m] happier than I’ve ever been in my entire life,” Hammer revealed on the July 14 episode of Bill Maher’s “Club Random” podcast. “The good place only comes from walking through hell.”
Hammer said therapy — and rehab — helped him kick an addiction to drugs, alcohol and sex.
“Therapy for me has been a life changer. I needed an adjustment,” he added. “Here’s what I think would have happened had none of this gone on — the cataclysmic tectonic shift in my life wouldn’t have happened. My life would have kept going exactly as it was, and I know that would ultimately only lead in one place and that’s death.”
