New series reveals dark legacy of Armie Hammer’s family

Disgraced Hollywood heartthrob Armie Hammer allegedly subjected his ex Courtney Vucekovich to a horror night of sadomasochistic sex — as well as a “degrading” sex act — she reveals in a new documentary.

Vucekovich, 30, weeps on camera as she discusses her relationship with the actor in the Discovery+ docuseries “House of Hammer,” which premieres Sept. 2.

Of the night that Armie allegedly bound her up, Vucekovich says of herself: “The ropes were around your neck, your wrists, your ankles, behind your back, I mean, I had bruises, I hated it.”

But the story of Armie’s descent from Oscar hopeful to Hollywood reject — amid tales of his abusive relationships with women and his fantasies of cannibalism — is woven around the dark history of the powerful Hammer clan.

It includes allegations of murder, abuse, drugs and orgies.

In the new Discovery+ series "House of Hammer," Courtney Vucekovich details claims of how Armie Hammer pushed her into a sadomasochistic relationship.
In the new Discovery+ series “House of Hammer,” Courtney Vucekovich details claims of how Armie Hammer pushed her into a sadomasochistic relationship.
Discovery+

The family was led by Armie’s great-grandfather, oil magnate Armand Hammer, the CEO of Occidental Petroleum and a friend to Presidents John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon, Prince Charles and Russia’s top chiefs.

Armie’s aunt, Casey Hammer, recalls in the doc how her father Julian — the son of Armand Hammer — allegedly battered her mother Glenna, leaving her covered in blood before their divorce. Casey, 61, also claims her father had “giant orgies” with 16- and 17-year-old girlfriends he dubbed “housekeepers,” and that she found Polaroids of one of the girls in sex acts.

Casey Hammer, the aunt of Armie, alleges that her father Julian fired guns at her, battered her mother and had orgies with 16- and 17-year-old "housekeepers."
Casey Hammer, the aunt of Armie, alleges that her father Julian fired guns at her, battered her mother and had orgies with 16- and 17-year-old “housekeepers.”
Talos Films

Furthermore, she says Julian, who died in 1996 and was Armie’s grandfather, left drugs lying around his house.

Casey, the sister of Armie’s father Michael, has previously alleged that Julian was a drunk who sexually abused her as a child, writing in her self-published 2015 memoir, “Surviving My Birthright,” that he was also abusive to other members of the family.

“On the outside we were a perfect family, but beneath it all was a dark world of deceit, betrayal and corruption and that’s why I’m coming forward now. It’s time to stop the cycle….women were disposable in the Hammer family,” she says in the film.

Armie has since separated from his wife, Elizabeth Chambers, with whom he shares son Ford and daughter Harper.
Armie has since separated from his wife, Elizabeth Chambers, with whom he shares son Ford and daughter Harper.
FilmMagic

In the documentary, Casey also claims her drunken father would shoot guns at her. “I know my grandfather had a dark side, but I saw my father’s dark side first hand and I’ve seen my brother’s side, and I’ve just heard about Armie’s dark side, but I believe it.

“Every generation in my family has been involved in dark misdeeds, and it just gets worse and worse and worse.”

Vucekovich, the CEO of glam-squad booking app Flashd, said she first met Armie at a hotel bar in Dallas, Texas, in late 2019.

The actor reached out to her in June 2020 and although Vucekovich says she was “hesitant” to start talking, he said he had been separated from his wife, TV personality Elizabeth Chambers, for almost two years. Armie told her he lived in New York City, while Chambers, the mother of his two young children, was in Los Angeles.

They bonded over childhood trauma and, Vucekovich said, “Between the love bombing and the attention, I felt like this was all perfect, this was amazing, like what we’re all taught to think is a fairytale when we’re little.”

But one “red flag” came over the July 4 holiday in 2020 when, she claims, Armie sent her a photo of her Texas apartment building when she was away — and said he was there to “find your scent.” Once home, Vucekovich says, she discovered a note from the star saying: “I am going to bite the f–k out of you.” She says she chose to think of it as “flattering” and not “concerning.”

The two met up in LA after Armie and his wife announced their split on July 10, 2020, and the “Call Me By Your Name” star whisked Vucekovich to the desert.

But there were times “when something didn’t feel right,” she says in “House of Hammer,” as when she recalls Armie taking her to a supply store to buy rope, but they were all out. “I was just thankful.”

“There was one thing that happened to me,” however, she recalls. “I don’t even like to think about it. The situation that happened was something … I think it’s something you speak about before it’s done, and we didn’t speak about this. It was something that has never been done to me.

“And it is something that is very degrading, very belittling and I don’t like to put it out there.”

Armie's grandfather Julian Hammer killed a college friend but charges were later dropped. He was also arrested in 1976 (above) for possession of stolen property.
Armie’s grandfather Julian Hammer killed a college friend but charges were later dropped. He was also arrested in 1976 (above) for possession of stolen property.
Associated Press Photo

After the incident, she recalls, she broke down in the shower, with a “wave of anxiety, like my body was responding, ‘Hey, something’s not right.’”

Said “House of Hammer” co-director Julian P. Hobbs: “When Courtney comes forward and takes you through blow by blow her encounter with Armie, it really helps shed light and context on some more theoretical discussions about consent or kink shaming, suddenly it’s very real and very personal and you see the damage that was done and it shifts the focus.”

Vucekovich continued to meet up with Armie, but felt “betrayed” after seeing photos of him with Rumer Willis.

Vucekovich tried to end things in September 2020 while in LA, she says but claims Armie tracked her down and she agreed to join him on a road trip to Sedona, Ariz.

Patriarch Armand Hammer (center) was father to Julian (far left) and grand father to Michael (top left) and Casey (top right). Michael and his wife Dru (middle left) had sons Viktor (from bottom left) and Armie.
Patriarch Armand Hammer (center) was father to Julian (far left) and grand father to Michael (top left) and Casey (top right). Michael and his wife Dru (middle left) had sons Viktor (from bottom left) and Armie.
Discovery+

Showing off photos of bites she says he inflicted on her during their alleged romance, Vucekovich claims: “I would have hand marks that would stay on my body … Armie bites really hard and he tells you to wear them like a badge of honor … at that time I was interpreting that as love. Looking at it now makes me sick.”

One night after dinner on their trip, she alleges, the star revealed he wanted to live out a sadomasochistic fantasy on her. “He was drunk, I was not. I didn’t say no, I said I ‘didn’t feel good.’ I said everything except no.”

This is the night, she claims, that he tied her up.

“I understand that if this is your fantasy or your thing, more power to you, but I didn’t like it. It didn’t feel safe, I didn’t feel loved, it was horrible, and [I was] completely immobilized … There’s that fight or flight [instinct, but] you can’t do either. You’re just stuck there.”

Armie's great-grandfather Armand Hammer once allegedly forced a mistress to change her identity after his wife found out about the woman.
Armie’s great-grandfather Armand Hammer once allegedly forced a mistress to change her identity after his wife found out about the woman.
Getty Images

Sobbing, Vucekovich says: “I was just closing my eyes until it ended, and he just went to sleep like it was nothing.

“I knew something would come up about him in the future,” she adds in the docuseries. “I know how careless he is. He texts and leaves trails of all this madness everywhere.”

Arnie was brought down in 2021 after the Twitter account @HouseOfEffie published alleged messages from the actor to various women, fetishizing violent sex and cannibal imagery. In March 2021, the woman known as Effie came forward to accuse Armie of rape and assault during their on-off relationship between 2016 to 2020.

She claimed that, on one occasion in April 2017, he raped her for over four hours in LA, adding “I thought he was going to kill me.”

Armie denied the accusations and was not charged. He has not worked on screen or stage since and was recently reported to be working in the Cayman Islands as a timeshare salesperson. His attorney declined to comment for this story.

At a dinner with Armie’s mom, Dru, Vucekovich recalls, when the actor talked negatively about his dad, Dru told him: “You need to give him some slack, this happened to him when he was younger.”

“Nobody could have been prepared for what I heard that night … it was some deep-rooted family trauma,” Vucekovich adds.

In the series, Vucekovich claims that Dru Hammer (third from right) hinted at "deep-rooted family trauma" within the Hammer family.
In the series, Vucekovich claims that Dru Hammer (third from right) hinted at “deep-rooted family trauma” within the Hammer family.
Tonya Wise/Invision/AP

In the second episode of “House of Hammer,” Casey is asked “Was your father sexually abusing you?” The cameras then fade to black ahead of the third and final episode, which The Post has not yet seen.

The filmmakers told The Post that, in it, Casey reads aloud a letter from her brother Michael, which is an attempt to suppress the family’s story.

“It hasn’t ended, it continues,” Hobbs said. “There are people of influence who don’t want this story to be told.”

Family friend Mariann Vitamanti also reveals in the series just how controlling family patriarch Armand was, saying, “That had to be scary, knowing that there were people watching you all the time.”

Cathe Boel, a former housecleaner for Julian Hammer, told filmmakers she left her husband for her employer — only to flee when Julian pulled a gun on a guy who gave her a ride home.
Cathe Boel, a former housecleaner for Julian Hammer, told filmmakers she left her husband for her employer — only to flee when Julian pulled a gun on a guy who gave her a ride home.
Talos Films

As Casey recalls, “We were taught Big Brother is always watching … [Armand] had files on anybody you dated, on any of your friends.” He also tapped the family’s phone calls, she claims.

According to journalist Edward Epstein, Armand, who was married three times, had a stream of mistresses, including one whom he made to change identity when his third wife, Francis, found out about her.

“He totally wanted to control a woman who he viewed as an object not as a human being,” says Epstein. 

Armie reportedly worked selling timeshares in the Cayman Islands earlier this year.
Armie reportedly worked selling timeshares in the Cayman Islands earlier this year.
MEGA

Meanwhile, Cathe Boal, a former housecleaner for Julian, alleges in the film that she left her husband for her employer, with her 9-month-old baby in tow — only to flee Julian after he pulled a gun on a guy who gave her a lift home.

She also reveals how possessive Julian was, saying he banned her from having friends: “I thought if I could give him enough love I thought I could change him.”

In 1955, on the morning of his 26th birthday, Julian killed his best friend from college after the pal asked him for $400 owed in a bet. According to “House of Hammer,” Armand had $50,000 in cash delivered to a lawyer in Los Angeles before the charges were dropped against his son.

Co-director Elli Hakami said she was most affected by the moment Neil Lyndon, who was head of PR for Armand Hammer in the 1980s, broke down in tears while talking about his part in the cover-up of the Piper Alpha explosion — the oil rig was owned by Hammer’s Occidental Petroleum. The 1988 incident in the North Sea killed more than 150 men. 

“He began to cry mainly because it was a cover-up and he really regretted his role in it,” Hakami said of Lyndon.

“Armand was performative in his response. He’d utilized people like Prince Charles and Diana, he’d given them multi-millions — legally — over the years to cull favor. Neil was orchestrating this event and you realize the degree to which this family knows how to manipulate their public persona to hide their private secrets, it’s the same thing with Armie,” co-director Hobbs said.

“This is a heartbreaking story about the repercussion of unchecked power and a psychopathic relationship to not telling the truth,” Hobbs added.

Armie has not had a new screen or stage role since the scandal.
Armie has not had a new screen or stage role since the scandal.
UK Press via Getty Images

Casey was left just $250,000 of her grandfather Armand’s $40 million fortune when he died in 1990, with $500,000 going to her father, Julian, and the rest of the estate going to her brother Michael — Armie’s father.

“Casey shows so much strength and bravery in this documentary against the face of not just the adversity of growing up but adversity she still faces in relation to the family,” said Jason Sarlanis President, Crime & Investigative Content, Discovery+.

“I was completely left out, that’s really sad when you realize you don’t have any family or anybody who loves you,” Casey says in the film.

Added co-director Hakami: “This family saga has been happening for over 100 years. I guess the odds are it will continue.”

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