A few short years ago Armie Hammer was a rising star in Hollywood. Now he claims he cannot get a job as a drama teacher in the Cayman Islands.
The star of Oscar-winning movie ‘Call Me By Your Name’, and ‘The Man from U.N.C.L.E’, has said he was effectively ‘cancelled’ amid allegations of sexual misconduct and controversy in his personal life.
He has since been cleared of any criminal wrongdoing and is attempting to relaunch his career.
But it wasn’t just movie roles that Hammer says he was frozen out of. The 37-year-old, who resides part time in Cayman, says he couldn’t get a job on the islands.
“I applied for a job as a drama teacher, I applied for a job as a landscaper, I applied for a job as a building manager. The Cayman Islands refuses to give me work permits,” he told comedian Bill Maher on his ‘Club Random’ podcast.
Hammer also talked about controversies in his personal life, acknowledging he had “issues” but said he had received a “glowing” psychological report in the Cayman Islands as part of the custody battle with his ex-wife Elizabeth Chambers.
Selling timeshares to tourists
Hammer famously worked briefly selling timeshares at Morritt’s Resort in East End. Resort managers confirmed to the Compass that he had spent a week at the property in June 2022, while he considered if it were something he might want to do for a living.
The publicity around his short stint at the resort, which was set up by a friend who works at the property, drew the attention of immigration enforcement officers.
Morritt’s was investigated by Workforce Opportunities and Residency Cayman and accepted a $1,500 administrative fine for employing Hammer without a work permit.
Hammer, in his interview with Maher, said he had enjoyed the taste of normal life.
“Say what you want, I loved it,” he told the host.
“I would love to be a timeshare salesman, it’s so fun.”
Hammer said he was looking for work because he was not getting offered acting roles and had bills to pay.
Asked about his family fortune, the actor, whose great-grandfather led Occidental Petroleum Company, said, “It’s so complicated.”
A dispute over the Hammer estate is currently being litigated in Cayman’s courts, following the death of the movie star’s father in 2022.
‘No free lunches’
In any case, the actor said he wanted to make his own way in life.
“I understand there are no free lunches,” he said, adding there were always strings attached to family money.
Speaking of the controversies that had surrounded him, Hammer acknowledged he had cheated on his wife and engaged in “risky behaviour”.
He said he has since gone into rehab, given up alcohol and sought therapy for addictions to drugs, alcohol and sex.
He emphasised that a two-and-a-half-year investigation into more serious allegations of sexual abuse by the Los Angeles district attorney had been dropped due to “insufficient evidence”.
And he said the publicity around those allegations and other controversies – including explicit texts referencing cannibalism that were shared with the media – had taken their toll on his personal life.
Amid a custody battle with his former wife in the Cayman Islands, he said, “I had to subject myself for a multi-month full psychological evaluation, and the report at the end of that was glowing,” Hammer told Maher.
“By the way, they’re like, ‘He’s got issues, but he’s not what people are saying.’”
Despite the experiences of the past years and the loss of his movie career, Hammer said he was in a good place.
“You know, what it’s taught me is that I don’t need that, because I’ve never been happier.”
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