celebrity

Did Elizabeth Chambers Try to Leak Stories About Armie Hammer?

Photo: David Livingston/Getty Images

Co-parenting two young children with a man accused of rape, sexual abuse, harrassment, and potential cannibalism cannot be easy. But according to Elizabeth Chambers, she and her estranged husband, Armie Hammer, are “in a really great place” as they work to finalize their divorce.

“We talk all the time,” Chambers recently said to E! News. “We’re committed fully and wholly to our children, and to being together as much as possible in a non-romantic way for our kids.” She shares 7-year-old Harper and 4-year-old Ford with the actor and rumored time-share salesman. “Kids need their mom; kids need their dad. So there’s nothing we won’t do.”

Chambers has avoided speaking publicly about Hammer for almost two years, ever since he was publicly accused of having multiple affairs that included nonconsensual sexual acts — including rape in one instance — violence, and emotional abuse. He has denied the allegations. Chambers addressed the reports on her Instagram in February 2021, saying she was “shocked, heartbroken, and devastated” about the allegations against her husband and supported “any victim of assault or abuse.” Since then, her Instagram has been mostly focused on pictures of her kids and her life in the Cayman Islands, and she’s stayed away from commenting on anything relating to Hammer, including the rape allegations made by a woman identified as Effie, who’s believed to be the same woman who kick-started the allegations against Hammer from the @houseofeffie Instagram account in January 2021. Hammer denied the allegations via his lawyer, Andrew Brettler, who told Variety in a statement, “Mr. Hammer has maintained that all of his interactions with [Effie] — and every other sexual partner of his for that matter — have been completely consensual.”

In her recent interview, Chambers again refrained from responding directly to any specific allegations against Hammer, though she did cryptically admit to having heard “some surprises” in the past few years. She also revealed that she did, in fact, watch the docuseries House of Hammer, which featured disturbing voice notes allegedly sent from Hammer to women. Chambers declined to participate in the doc and originally said she wasn’t going to watch it. “It was obviously heartbreaking on so many levels and very painful. But at the same time, it exists. The past is the past and all we can do is take this as a moment to learn and listen, and hopefully process and heal in every capacity,” she told E! News.

For her, healing has involved “sound healing” and “a breakthrough with writing intentions” as well as “burning things, putting them in the ocean, having prayer by myself, having beach walks with my kids.” For Hammer, it meant rehab. In June last year, it was reported that Hammer had entered a six-month rehab program for “drugs, alcohol, and sex issues.” As for how that affected their co-parenting, Chambers kept it vague, saying, “Armie has been focused on his healing.” Using an airplane metaphor, she described him as focusing on putting on his own oxygen mask before helping others. “He has been very busy securing his own mask.” She added that she helps Hammer be “the best dad for our children” but also made sure to separate herself from his life outside of parenting. “Obviously he processes everything else that he’s dealing with personally — and that’s his own journey now.”

Following the publication of the E! News interview, Effie responded on Instagram, calling out Chambers for her apparent support of Hammer and his “healing.” On her Instagram Stories — some of which were saved to her highlights — Effie shared screenshots of what she claimed were messages from Chambers encouraging her to go public with her allegations against Hammer in an effort to protect her children. “He’s truly a psychopath,” one text reads. “And he’s never been with the kids all day. Ever.” Following the posts, a representative for Chambers told “Page Six,” “Given the extent and nature of allegations that were made, Elizabeth sought to determine the veracity of those allegations. She was very sensitive to all parties involved.” Effie also provided a statement, saying, “It’s unfortunate that Elizabeth, like the producers of House of Hammer, is looking to profit from others’ trauma. She can’t call herself a feminist when her ‘best friend’ is an abuser. The ones who need healing are the victims — not the abusers.” (Effie clarified to The Cut that she was referencing a paparazzi video published by the Daily Mail in July, in which Chambers called Hammer her “best friend.”)

Now another unnamed source has come out to accuse Chambers of attempting to expose Hammer in the media prior to the allegations’ becoming public. A person who claims to be a former friend of Chambers’s told CNN that she let Chambers use her name and email address to send messages to various media outlets regarding Hammer’s alleged affair with Lily James, his co-star in the Netflix film Rebecca (2020). She claimed that she would even speak to reporters on the phone while Chambers told her what to say and decided to come forward because she felt things had gone “too far.” It’s unclear if any of these alleged efforts to publicly accuse Hammer of having an affair were successful, though there was speculation in the press about a possible on-set romance. (Per CNN, a representative for James has denied the allegations.) Reps for both Hammer and Chambers declined to comment on CNN’s report.

This post has been updated.

Elizabeth Chambers Allegedly Tried to Expose Armie Hammer