Armie Hammer's Aunt 'Wasn't Shocked' by Abuse Allegations: 'Monster'

Actor Armie Hammer's aunt said she was not shocked when she heard about the allegations of abuse against her nephew, describing him as a "monster."

An upcoming three-part documentary series on Discovery+, House of Hammer, details the allegations made against Hammer and delves deep into the family history of the Hammer dynasty.

Multiple accusations of abuse have been made against Hammer. Messages leaked last year showed him discussing sexual fantasies that included violence, rape and cannibalism.

The docuseries will include exclusive revelations from his aunt, Casey Hammer, and multiple survivors of his alleged abuse.

Hammer and his legal team have consistently denied all the allegations in the series.

Hammer is a descendant of Armand Hammer, his great-grandfather, who was an oil tycoon. Casey is the daughter of his only son, Julian, and sister to Armie Hammer's dad, Michael.

Casey has spoken out ahead of the documentary's release, detailing the family's history of alleged violence. She also described her harrowing upbringing in her 2015 autobiography, Surviving My Birthright.

She said she was not surprised when the allegations about Hammer came to light.

"I wasn't shocked when the allegations came forward," Casey told The Daily Beast this week. "Based on my experiences in my family, I suffered from abuse. It was just a way of life.

"You don't wake up one day and become a monster—it's learned behavior."

She continued, "Once [the allegations] started unfolding, I was like, Here we go, another Hammer man and something that's being said about them."

The three-part docuseries contains interviews with some of Hammer's alleged victims, and the trailer features voice notes allegedly from Hammer himself.

"As shocking as what he's doing right now, there's a generational pattern that's been in play for a very long time and that no one took notice of," Casey said. "It just didn't start there—it goes way back."

In House of Hammer, Casey will tell how she grew up seeing underage girls in the family home used as mistresses, drug abuse and extreme violence, which she alleges was usually at the hands of her father, Julian.

She described in her memoir how her father allegedly abused her sexually and loved taunting people with guns.

"As a little girl, holding a phone book and being shot at, most people are horrified by that. But to me, it was a normal thing that happened in my family," Casey told The Daily Beast.

Hammer's aunt also described her dad's drug-fueled bouts of paranoia and how he inflicted them on her.

"I let him hold a .357 Magnum to my temple every hour and make me open my eyes to see if I was possessed by aliens, and if I was, he was going to shoot me," she said.

"I chose to put myself in that situation for weeks as an adult. People focus on the physical and sexual abuse, but mental abuse can go a lot farther in terms of the brainwashing and the controlling."

Growing up with her powerful grandfather could also be volatile and terrifying.

"It was all I knew. Back then, you didn't have social media so you just thought this was the way normal rich, famous, wealthy people acted in Los Angeles," she said.

"Behind closed doors, it was a free-for-all. Once you walked outside, my grandfather controlled the narrative.

"As long as you didn't embarrass him, were camera-ready and acted a certain way, you were fine. If you did anything to mess up, you were threatened with punishments and being disowned," she said.

Casey revealed she could not watch HBO's hit drama Succession, about a powerful media family, because it hit too close to home.

"I couldn't watch Succession because I was getting triggered, and I'm here to tell you that I'm the real-life Succession—and I'm still standing," she said.

"I'm not Hollywood's version. I wasn't written or scripted. And the Hammer family is a million times worse than Succession."

As in Succession, where the media mogul dad covers up an accidental killing by one of his sons, Casey alleged that Armand helped make his son Julian's involvement in a killing disappear.

In 1955, on his 26th birthday, Julian was accused of shooting a friend over a $400 gambling debt he owed the friend and because he thought he was hitting on his wife.

According to an expose in Vanity Fair last year, "Armand had a friend deliver $50,000 in cash to a lawyer in Los Angeles. Julian claimed self-defense, and charges were dismissed."

Casey said of the incident: "My father got away with murder pretty much, and my grandfather made it go away.

"As a child, you witness all this bad behavior—people get bought off, doors are opened by the name 'Hammer'—and it was quite exhilarating and terrifying. You saw presidents, royalty and Hollywood all want to be a part of this secret society, in a sense."

Casey also revealed her motives for wanting to be involved in the Discovery+ documentary.

The aunt said she was shocked that once the accusations against her nephew became public, people focused on his alleged "cannibalism" rather than on the welfare of his alleged victims, "who've been left in the path and need the help because they might not have the money or the right counseling."

"The focus seemed to be about Armie being 'a cannibal' or what was going to happen to his career or 'cancel culture,' but it's like, Wait a minute—let's shift the light onto the victims," Casey said.

"What about the people that are scarred for life because of all that happened?"

Casey also wanted to appear in House of Hammer to give a voice to the "bright, intelligent women" who have been harmed by generations of men from her family.

"The beauty of it is talking about consent. A lot of people don't understand what that really means," she said.

"We're not here to judge your behaviors or preferences, but if you're involved in something and it gets to a point where it doesn't feel good or it's not comfortable and you want to stop, the minute you say 'no' it should stop—and if it doesn't, that's when it becomes criminal."

Casey continued: "To see how brave they are to come forward, to me, was so empowering because it's scary nowadays on social media. Hopefully, this helps others come forward and say 'no' to being abused."

Two women who said they were sexually involved with Hammer are featured in the documentary, which includes an audio clip in which he says, "My [inaudible] is going to evolve to showing up to your place and completely tying you up and incapacitating you and then being able to do whatever I want to every single hole in your body until I was done with you."

Upon its release, the trailer as well as the voicemails from Hammer shocked many.

Sex and culture critic Ella Dawson wrote: "Armie Hammer seems like a monster who co-opted BDSM to cover up his violent sexual abuse and coercive control of his victims."

Citing sources, Newsweek reported in late 2021 that Armie Hammer has entered a rehab facility in Florida.

As a result of the multiple allegations, Hammer has left several TV and film projects and was dropped by both his talent agency and publicist as a client.

House of Hammer is set to drop Friday, September 2, on Discovery+.