Armie Hammer has been persona non grata in Hollywood since claims of violent abuse and sexual assault against him first made the press in March 2021. Hammer dropped out of upcoming roles after the investigation went public, then the actor’s agency and publicist promptly dropped him as a client. He’s reportedly been in the Cayman Islands ever since, laying low with family and loved ones.
READ MORE: A Documentary Special About The Crimes Of Armie Hammer And His Family Are In The Works
But Vanity Fair has an update on Hammer’s crisis, and the news is both heartening and a little sad. A source told the magazine that none other than Robert Downey Jr. has stepped up to lend Hammer a helping hand. Downey has reportedly paid for Hammer’s entire six-month stint in a Florida rehab center, The Guest House. And since Hammer left that facility last December to return to the Caymans, Downey has supported the disgraced actor financially. In fact, Downey, who has battled highly publicized scandals and addictions of his own, also gave Hammer a place to stay in Los Angeles to lay low after a Twitter story went viral last week and ruined his relative seclusion in the Caymans.
But what was the story that went viral on Twitter? Well, rumors abound that not only is Hammer disgraced from Hollywood, but he’s also financially dried up, and he’s working in the hotel industry in the Caymans for money. Last week, “Desus & Mero” producer Muna Mire posted a photo on Twitter of a pamphlet for the vacation club Morritt’s Resort that featured Hammer on the cover. Mire’s tweet also read, “My friends’ parents went on vacation in the Cayman Islands and Armie Hammer was their concierge I’m still not over it,” before she deleted it. However, the post did enough damage in its short lifespan to upend Hammer’s life in the Caymans and seek out Downey for help in Los Angeles.
Since Mire’s deleted tweet went viral, TMZ and Variety have also reported that Hammer is currently working as a timeshare salesman in the Caymans. One of Hammer’s attorneys told Vanity Fair on Wednesday, “I can’t confirm or deny the report because Armie hasn’t addressed it. I just think it’s shitty that, if he is selling timeshares, the media is shaming him for having a ‘normal job.'” Since the Twitter story broke, Hammer left the Caymans for Los Angeles to avoid the press, where he’s staying at a house owned by Downey and going to AA meetings in Malibu.
Some may bristle at Downey’s help toward Hammer, but let’s not forget about the actor’s history of personal crises. In 1996, the actor was stopped for speeding by police who found an unloaded .357 magnum along with heroin, cocaine and crack cocaine in his care. Downey checked into a series of rehab programs only to repeatedly broke out of them. The actor spent under a year in prison and was arrested again in 2001 before he finally checked into a rehab program and completed it. Downey’s career may have been over if another actor, Mel Gibson, hadn’t intervened and supported Downey when he needed it most. Downey did the same for Gibson in 2014, advocating to forgive Gibson after the actor had spent almost a decade blacklisted from Hollywood for various controversies.
So, it’s no surprise that Downey has stepped up to also support Hammer, despite the allegations against him. And he’s not the only one by Hammer’s side. Hammer’s estranged wife, Elizabeth Chambers, has also supported Hammer through the last year, telling friends that she wants what’s best for her family. In addition, close friends of the actor also advocated for him to Vanity Fair. “Everyone looks at Armie thinking that he’s had some sort of privileged life—and that must mean there were no problems in his youth and everything was peachy keen,” said one friend. “But that’s not necessarily the way things go. Just because you come from an upbringing where financial resources are plentiful doesn’t mean life isn’t without problems.”
Hammer is the scion of the family behind Occidental Petroleum and is named after her oil tycoon grandfather Armand Hammer. So, Hammer is no stranger to wealth and privilege, but Armand’s death in 1990 led to an epic battle over the family’s estate that remains ongoing three decades later. And now Hammer, who often told interviewers how much he prided his financial independence from his family, has no money at all. “He is working at a cubicle,” a source told Vanity Fair. “The reality is he’s totally broke, and is trying to fill the days and earn money to support his family.”
Does Hammer deserve what’s happened to him? He’s disgraced from his former industry, has no money, and is a pariah to everyone except a select few people. Given the serious allegations against him, which include cannibalistic fantasies, violent sexual abuse, and manipulative behavior, many would so he does. But let’s not forget Downey’s miraculous turn-around from a homeless and unemployable ex-con to one of the most financially successful actors of all time. People can and do change for the better, and they do so through the recognition and empathy of other people. Does Hammer deserve to be forgiven like Downey was, or even return to acting at some point? These are difficult questions, especially in light of Hammer’s apparent proclivities. If anything, Downey’s support of Hammer should make Hollywood and the larger public consider other possibilities beyond condemnation, difficult though that may be.