The Stalker
Since 2016, Effie has closely followed actor Armie Hammer online and around the world after initiating contact with him on Facebook. How did we get here?
Content Advisory: The following contains sexual images, language, references; allegations of abuse; and references to self-harm. Please be mindful of this as you proceed.
In a bustling crowd in London, the woman with the shockingly-bright magenta pink puffer in a sea of black and grey was hard to miss. In a video capturing her presence, shared below, she can be seen shifting nervously, tossing her long, dark-brown hair and looking pointedly ahead, staring at something —or rather, someone— directly in her line of vision. She was there with a friend, a blonde woman in a black knit beanie and black jacket who momentarily comes into frame, but really, she was there with the hope of catching the eye of someone else entirely.
This was October 9th, 2017, and Armie Hammer was walking the red carpet at the BFI London Film Festival for the premiere of “Call Me By Your Name” (CMBYN), alongside co-star Timothée Chalamet and director Luca Guadagnino. Like his co-star and director, Hammer was stopping frequently on the red carpet to talk with entertainment reporters and their cameramen, eager for comments and video of the actor. It was in the course of one of these impromptu short video interviews that the girl in the bright magenta pink puffer is visible, just above Hammer’s shoulder, on the left side of the screen (starting at minute 2:30). She was purposely staring at Armie Hammer.
The woman in the bright magenta pink puffer is Effie, the same woman behind the eponymous @HouseOfEffie account on Instagram and almost certainly the “sex slave” who in November, 2017, took to DataLounge to complain about her alleged thwarted uber-kinky BDSM affair with Armie Hammer, an intense Dominant/submissive alleged relationship that, Effie claimed, was derailed only by the inconvenient presence of Hammer’s then-wife and the mother of Hammer’s two children, Elizabeth Chambers.
Chambers was nowhere in sight at the BFI London Film Festival CBMYN event, but Effie, the woman who desired to be Chambers, was, at a distance anyway, staring at the back of her alleged-lover Armie Hammer’s head (Figure 1).
Later, on February 5th, 2021, after the romance had soured and Effie began accusing Armie Hammer of everything under the sun —including, and most damagingly to Hammer, his family, and his career, sexual assault—, Effie would claim that just seeing Hammer’s face “on movie posters,” “on the London tube, on buses,” in emails and magazines would cause her to “[want] to move to Antarctica to escape [Hammer]” (Figure 2). “It was the absolute worst thing ever,” Effie said, adding, “I’d [sic] have a lot of breakdowns.”
Looking at the video of Effie staring at Armie Hammer, above, there is absolutely no hint that the woman in the magenta puffer had any inclination of wanting to “move to Antarctica to escape” the actor. To the contrary, Effie seemed intent on capturing Hammer’s attention, if only he would turn around and acknowledge her in the crowd. But Hammer did not, and would not, turn around to look for Effie because Hammer did not know Effie would be present.
Effie had shown-up of her own volition, having not been invited. In fact, in early 2021, Effie, who claims that Hammer frequently “ghosted” her, admitted she and Hammer were not in communication in October, 2017, one of the many periods during which Effie claims to have been “ghosted” by the actor (Figure 3). At best, one can very generously frame this to say Effie wanted to “surprise” her alleged lover in London on the day of his film’s premier; at worst, and more accurately, this can absolutely be regarded as stalking behavior, especially if Effie’s presence was both unwanted and caused Hammer distress and further if, as in Effie’s case, these sudden, unannounced appearances to try to be nearer the object of her obsession became a repeated, disturbing pattern. To be clear: they did.
(We note that there is an additional clue in the text of this list (Figure 3) of the times Effie claims Armie Hammer ghosted her that Effie inadvertently included. Effie says Hammer told her he was “spooked and scared of intense feelings” as the reason for his “ghosting” her. If these words are true, this would appear to indicate that Hammer was uncomfortable with the level of intimacy which Effie was clearly after. Effie’s unannounced appearances at places where Effie knew Armie Hammer would be at or had recently been were, therefore, likely not amusing nor enjoyable to the actor.)
The CMBYN premier at the BFI London Film Festival on October 9th, 2017, was far from the only time Effie stalked her alleged lover, Armie Hammer, at places he was at or known to have been at over the course of the next four-plus years. In the fall of 2018, for example, Effie and a girl friend took a trip through Italy and, notably, the Italian countryside in and around Crema, where CMBYN had been filmed, visiting sites specifically linked to the film. Video and images that Effie herself shared publicly on social media show Effie in BDSM attire, wearing a choker while dancing erotically in a car (Figure 4) in one and donning and cap with the submissive question “Yes, Daddy?” embroidered in the front while autoerotically choking herself (Figure 5) in another. Choking is a kink Effie claims to have shared with Hammer, for whom’s eyes these videos and images were clearly made.
Additional images from this trip show Effie taking a ritualistic nude dip (Figure 6) in an apparent desperate attempt to perform a kind of passion-baptism in the same body of water, the Fontanile Quarantina, where Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet had played in CMBYN. The photograph, dated September 23, 2018, shows Effie submerging herself in the same waters impressed with the aura of her lover to emerge, reborn, as Hammer’s one true and most devoted disciple.
On this particular trip to Italy, Effie went as far as to track-down CMBYN director Luca Guadagnino and insist on taking a picture (Figure 7) with the startled Italian, who very likely had no idea he was posing with his star’s stalker.
Later, in May, 2019, Effie tried once more to force an encounter with Armie Hammer by showing-up, again uninvited, at the Cannes Film Festival in the south of France, where Effie appeared to have believed Hammer would be owing to a popular rumor at the time in the CMBYN fandom that Hammer would supposedly be present, inspired by the fact that both Luca Guadagnino and Timothée Chalamet were scheduled to attend. Through social media, Effie connected with other CMBYN fans prior to this particular trip and coordinated a meet-up, lying to give fans the impression she was “going there for Armie” in some sort of planned, mutually-agreed-upon capacity (Figures 8, 9, 10). All of the fans who recall eventually meeting-up with Effie at Cannes in 2019 say Effie not only did not meet Hammer there, but that Effie was further denied entry into the event altogether, “which,” as one fan rightly noted, “is sus if they [were] having an affair” (Figure 9).
Notably, one of the most lasting impressions these CMBYN fans had of Effie —beyond how suspicious it was that despite claiming to “be there for Armie” and giving them the impression they had a close, intimate connection, Effie was not in any guest lists for Armie Hammer and failed to gain entry to the festival— was that Effie was “so rude to people and staff,” they began referring to Effie amongst themselves as “c*ntface,” because, as they explained, “she is a really bad person even then!” (Figure 11).
As Effie made friends in the south of France, Armie Hammer and his then-partner Elizabeth Chambers were busy celebrating their nine years of marriage, with Chambers joining Hammer in London (Figure 12), where the actor was scheduled to begin filming the Netflix movie “Rebecca” at the start of June, before heading back to Los Angeles to ready their family for a summer abroad in Europe (Figure 13). Hammer never planned on attending Cannes in 2019, something Effie would likely have known if their “relationship” were really as close as Effie presented to others then and has continued presenting to others to this day.
It is clear that the manufactured intimacy Effie defiantly, desperately wanted to and perhaps needed to believe in never truly was. The facts of the matter all point to a person —Effie— being incapable and/or unwilling to grasp the reality of the situation they found themselves in, believing in and attempting to force into existence a closeness that was simply not there for someone —Armie Hammer— with two children, a spouse, a career, an entirely different network of friends and family and social, financial, and life obligations that wildly diverged from Effie’s own.
It is further painfully obvious that the extreme desire to manufacture this false, forced intimacy drove Effie to seek Armie Hammer in ways that were and are unnatural, smothering, uncomfortable and, at times, harassing, abusive, and even illegal. Of course, Effie couldn’t and still doesn’t see this, because she was obsessively in-love with Hammer and often makes evident she still is.
But Effie’s stalking alone, while unsettling, isn’t the most shocking aspect of this story. The most shocking aspect of this story is the fact that Effie’s unexpected presence at the BFI London Film Festival for the premier of “Call Me By Your Name” in October, 2017; and her drive through the Italian countryside in and around Crema in September, 2018; and her sudden appearance at the Cannes Film Festival in the south of France in May, 2019; all in the hopes of encountering, feeling close to, and/or capturing the attention of Armie Hammer, were all done after April 24th, 2017, the day in which Effie claimed, in a live press conference alongside her attorney, Gloria Allred, that Armie Hammer “violently raped” her.
Like many before her, Efrosina a.k.a. “Effie” Angelova arrived in Los Angeles, California, from Eastern Europe drawn by celebrity and dreams.
In one of her multiple Instagram “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) sessions, on February 1st, 2021, Effie described her impression of Los Angeles as a bucolic place where “there was no homophobia, racism or sexism” and everything “seemed so free” (Figure 14). “I thought it was the world capital for LGBTQ rights,” Effie said, claiming she made-up her mind to move to this idyllic land at the very tender age of eight.
In 2015, at the age of 18, Effie appears to have arrived in Los Angeles, fulfilling at least this aspect of her dream. Photographs by LA-based photographer Flip Cassidy show Effie, with her signature long dark-brown hair and long, pointy nails, posing for Cassidy somewhere in Hollywood in July, 2015, confirming Effie was in California though it is unclear exactly when she arrived that year (Figure 15).
Little else is known about Effie’s activities in Los Angeles in 2015, but additional images shared publicly on social media dating from April 18th, 2016 (Figure 16), show Effie posing and smiling for the camera with an accompanying text praising Effie both for her alleged charity work and, as the text also claims, for being “one of the most talented [then] current students at The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute” in Los Angeles, an acting school specializing in “The Method,” an approach to acting developed by Strasberg that he was fond of describing as “what all actors have always done whenever they acted well.”
The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute offers a multitude of acting programs varying in length and cost, from 2-week intensives priced at $1,725 USD (in 2022), plus living expenses, to a two-year Associate’s Degree program, the only degree program in “The Method” style of acting, costing $28,976 USD per year (in 2022) for both domestic and international students, plus living expenses. It’s unclear what program(s) Effie was potentially enrolled in at the Strasberg Institute, though U.S. Homeland Security requirements for foreign students to be granted an F-1 or M-1 visa for entry to the country for the purposes of post-secondary study normally necessitate a full and/or the equivalent of a full course load, increasing the likelihood that Effie was enrolled in one of the Strasberg Institute’s more involved —and, therefore, more expensive— courses of study, including their Associate’s Degree program.
Given the high cost of tuition, the high cost of living in Los Angeles, and the unavailability of financial aid for international students, what Effie’s purported enrollment at the Strasberg Institute does make clear is that Effie either comes from a relatively-privileged, middle to upper-middle class background —a characterization Effie herself has always promoted (Figures 17, 18)—, and/or that Effie has always had extremely generous benefactors. Regardless of the exact source of Effie’s economic stability, both point to Effie coming to Los Angeles willfully and comfortably, not to escape any sort of economic hardship.
Whether Effie seriously intended to pursue a career in acting or film is unknown, but what is evident is that Effie was drawn to the glimmering luster of Hollywood life, and she pursued proximity with celebrities and the celebrity ecosystem with gusto. Even before and well after Effie began tracking Armie Hammer’s every step, following him around Los Angeles and, later, throughout Europe, Effie frequently sought-out and inserted herself into Hollywood and other industry and celebrity events, as photos Effie posted publicly to social media show.
For example, in just one month, October, 2018, shortly after Effie’s joyride through the Italian countryside in an apparent pilgrimage to CMBYN filming sites (Figures 4, 5, 6), Effie also attended the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy, on October 9th, 2018, where she took fan pictures with a smiling Lee Pace and startled Jason Sudeikis (Figures 19, 20, 21); a meet and greet and book signing with the author of CMBYN, André Aciman, in London on October 22, 2018, where Effie once again took a fan photo with the author (Figure 22); and the “Beautiful Boy” screening and question & answer session with select cast and crew at the BFI London Film Festival on October 31st, 2018, where it’s clear Effie was not allowed to approach Timothée Chalamet and Steve Carrell, as no fan picture of Effie with either star exists. Effie did still manage to take a snap from her distant seat in the audience (Figure 23), however, to further the impression Effie appeared to be building on social media, where she shared these photos, as some sort of celebrity insider.
Not limiting herself to seeking proximity with and approaching celebrities from film and literature, Effie has also publicly shared a fan photo with the late Chester Bennington of Linkin Park, whom Effie met somewhere in Hollywood on May 18th, 2017, posting the picture the next day, May 19th, publicly to her social media (Figure 24). Eerily, this was almost exactly two months to the day before Bennington was found dead by suicide in the early morning of July 20th, 2017, by his unsuspecting housekeeper.
How exactly Effie managed to repeatedly gain access to celebrities and celebrity events is questionable and peculiar given the number of such encounters and events Effie documented, though Effie’s own words at the time she “met” Armie Hammer on social media offer a possible clue. After sending out a random “Omg I love you” to the actor on Facebook on October 13th, 2016, and subsequently “fangirling” over Hammer after noticing that Hammer had “Seen” her message (Figure 25), Effie immediately launched into a pitch for the “nonprofit that helps children with disabilities” that Effie claimed to “volunteer for,” I Can Too, the same organization she was publicly praised for participating in by a friend earlier in April of that same year (Figure 16).
“I’d love to talk to you about [the nonprofit organization Effie was involved with, I Can Too] if you’re interested,” Effie rapidly added to her messages with Armie Hammer after he replied to her with a “Go to sleep. And thank you” (Figure 25). Whether Effie meant this as a ploy to continue communicating with Hammer, whom she was clearly interested in and taken by, a ploy Effie possibly also used with other celebrities, is something we cannot discern from this one message; perhaps Effie did have a genuine desire to promote the organization she volunteered with. That this was also a very convenient and self-serving way to extend her communication with people she was already clearly interested in interacting with, however, is evident, especially if one considers that Effie was never an officer or agent of I Can Too to represent them in any official capacity that would require her to outreach to celebrities in their name.
Why and how Effie, ostensibly studying acting and busy with volunteer activities and “fangirling” over the celebrity ecosystem she immersed herself in in California, became involved with SNCTM, the uber-exclusive, private, members-only sex club in Los Angeles Effie began working for in or around October 25th, 2016 (Figure 26), is not known. However, if Effie enjoys substantial economic and social privilege (or, at the very least, very generous benefactors), as Effie herself claims and as we we discussed earlier (Figures 17, 18), then financial concerns were almost certainly not part of the calculation Effie made in choosing to pursue sex work.
Rather, as Effie’s likely disclosures while posing as an apparent “sex slave” on DataLounge make clear, it has long been evident that Effie enjoys BDSM/fetish/kink and has never been shy about communicating and expressing her sexuality, often to the point of shaming anyone who does not enjoy her particular tastes and sexual preferences by referring to them derogatorily as “vanilla,” implying they are banal and mundane compared to her own alleged proverbial explosion of sexual flavor (Figure 27, 28). Since coming forward with her allegations in January, 2021, in fact, Effie has repeatedly complained that the fantasies she has contributed towards publicly kink-shaming Armie Hammer for are all hers (Figures 28, 29), implying Hammer in some way appropriated them from her and frequently sounding upset at not being credited for them and/or recognized as their originator. (Given that Effie now accuses Armie Hammer of sexual assault, and that Effie has worked hard to construct an image online of Hammer as a serial predator, it is bizarre and frankly non-sensical that Effie wants to be credited for Hammer’s alleged sexual kinks.)
Indications of these BDSM/fetish/kink preferences were already present long before Effie arrived in Los Angeles, so that the city itself and the cultural environment in Hollywood, so often scapegoated in #MeToo allegations involving celebrities as contributing factors, cannot be pointed to as a specific influence for Effie’s choices. Images publicly shared on social media from a former friend and possible romantic partner of Effie’s dating from March 20th, 2014, show Effie, her long dark-brown hair dyed red, looming imposingly over her friend, who stands before Effie, staring off into the distance. Effie’s hand is holding the girl’s neck as if to choke her (Figure 30), a BDSM fetish practice Effie has continued to appreciate and preference to this day, including throughout her alleged relationship with Armie Hammer (Figure 5).
Free-spirited Los Angeles and the celebrity culture around Hollywood were more aptly the idealized playground in which Effie first felt “free” (Figure 14) to express her already-native, BDSM-focused sexuality, a place for Effie to project and explore fantasies she already harbored, and Effie’s choice to work at SNCTM was, it appears, simply a furtherance of and in accordance with those preferences.
Working at SCNTM served the additional purpose of bringing Effie closer to the celebrities and Hollywood ecosystem she was already drawn to, providing Effie with yet another opportunity to meet the people she traveled to various film festivals to encounter.
Discerning Effie’s activities during her time at the infamous sex club, however, isn’t straightforward. Despite a spate of press owing to their celebrity clientele, SNCTM remains an intentionally secretive organization, for the purpose of privacy for their celebrity and other high-profile clients. “The privacy of SNCTM is of paramount importance and confidentiality is required of all Members, Guests, Participants, Performers, Employees, and Officers,” the organization states on their website, indicating that anyone wishing to be affiliated with them in any way will be asked to sign a “Unilateral Non-Disclosure Agreement” requiring everyone to “not disclose any identifying information of SNCTM Members, Guests, Participants, Performers, Employees, or Officers,” or take any recordings or pictures at events. Violation of these and other terms result in expulsion from events, terminated contracts, and, in extreme cases, revoked membership.
Still, the blackout curtain surrounding SNCTM is selectively pulled-back at times just enough to provide us with some clues and insights as to what goes on inside, and how Effie was involved.
Specifically, Alina Ratuska , the former creative director of SNCTM (2014-2018), founder of the brand Rockachic (2009-present) and, later, founder of the private sex club Kinky Rabbit Club (2017-present), who has often used Rockachic’s public social media profiles to promote both SNCTM and Kinky Rabbit Club online, has provided some of the clearest behind-the-scenes glimpses at SNCTM that have both helped confirm Effie’s presence at the sex club and have often inadvertently reveled aspects of Effie’s work there.
It is through Ratuska’s marketing efforts on Facebook, for example, that we can confirm Effie began working at SNCTM starting at the end of October, 2016 (Figure 26). Ratuska herself also posed with Effie in a photograph dated November 20th, 2016, in which Effie wears a black leather collar with a tag that reads, in large bold print, “TOUCH” as it rests upon her exposed breasts (Figure 31). It is worth noting both SNCTM and Kinky Rabbit Club have strict rules regarding consent, whereby both require everyone must “ask before [they] touch.”
On Instagram, additional promotional SNCTM posts by Ratuska on Rockachic’s profile show a woman, referred to by Ratuska simply as “@snctmkitten” in the caption, with her face turned slightly away and covered by her long dark-brown hair which is swept-up into a ponytail, leaning over and forward with her elbows and knees on a chair, apparently readying herself for a performance. The post is dated December 31st, 2016. The woman identified as “@snctmkitten” is almost certainly Effie.
In the accompanying follow-up post dated January 2nd, 2017 (Figure 33), Ratuska shared a short video with the message “Happy New Year” on it. The post’s caption reads simply “A glimpse inside,” and tags three different entities: SNCTM; @missy_fatale; and, once again, @snctmkitten. Though the post does not specify what each performers’ role is, working with fire is a highly-specialized skill, one there is no indication Effie has ever studied for or possesses.
By contrast, Missy Fatale is a world-renown fire performer and burlesque star who frequently performs her fire artistry on herself and others on stages around the world. It stands to reason therefore that Missy Fatale is the woman standing and handling the fire in this short video (Figure 34), while Effie, also known as @snctmkitten, plays a supporting role, kneeling and leaning over some sort of decorative base while Fatale hovers over her, holding what appears to be an ignited torch. Fatale glides the torch and flames along Effie’s body, notably Effie’s back, directly onto Effie’s exposed skin (Figure 34). Effie/@snctmkitten was, it appears, the literal toast of SNCTM’s exclusive New Year’s Eve celebration.
Effie has since deleted or renamed her social media profile @snctmkitten, a part of an ongoing continued effort to obscure her past and social media footprint. Nonetheless, Effie has at times shared images of herself at SNCTM to her @HouseOfEffie Instagram account (Figure 35), often surreptitiously without identifying herself as being the girl in the image or video, as if in an attempt to coyly remember her previous life as a sex worker performer all the while working to obscure it.
Tellingly, on New Years Day, 2022, on her Instagram stories, Effie shared the exact same video of herself with her back being ignited on fire (Figure 34), a screenshot of which is shared here (Figure 36), that was first shared by Alina Ratuska to promote SNCTM back in 2017 (Figure 33). Of course, Effie did not identify herself as being the woman in the video, again in an effort to maintain deniability, but there are few other reasons why Effie would have this specific video in mind other than because Effie both worked at SNCTM and is one of the women in this video.
One additional source of confirmation to Effie’s identity as @snctmkitten can be found within the comments of the post featuring the video where Effie’s back is ignited on fire (Figures 33, 34). A comment by a user calling themselves @wehojess tags @snctmkitten and says “🔥🔥🔥🔥…!” (Figure 37). @wehojess is producer, actor, and writer Jessica M. Bair, Effie’s friend, the subject of the documentary “This Is Jessica,” and the woman behind the wheel as Effie danced (Figure 4) and autoerotically asphyxiated herself (Figure 5) in an effort to draw Armie Hammer’s attention while in a car in Italy on a pilgrimage to CMBYN filming locations in September, 2018, something Bair herself confirmed in a throwback post on her film’s Instagram profile (Figure 38).
Clearly, Bair is excited (Figure 37) to see her friend Effie, a.k.a. @snctmkitten, performing with fire at SNCTM (Figures 33, 34). Bair also appears very happy to have roadtripped with her friend Effie in Italy in September, 2018 (Figure 38), to all the CMBYN filming locations —like the Fontanile Quarantine (Figure 6)— that they could fit into their schedule. In fact, Bair remembers the experience fondly enough to tag both Effie and Armie Hammer in her May, 2020, social media throwback post about the roadtrip through Crema (Figure 38).
We find this strange considering this is well over a year after Effie now claims Armie Hammer “raped” her on April 24th, 2017. Why would a friend enable another friend to visit all the places their alleged friends’ rapist was known to have been at recently, and, moreover, still be posting about it on social media years later, in 2020, still tagging both their friend, Effie, and her alleged “rapist,” Armie Hammer?
The only way this makes sense is if one understands that Effie, while likely having mentioned her alleged affair with Armie Hammer to her friends, had never mentioned any allegations of “rape” or misconduct of any sort regarding Hammer prior to late January, 2021, when the eyes of the world —or, at least, social media— were upon her after releasing her “#cannibal” content. With an audience suddenly to perform to, that’s what Effie chose to do.
Notably, @snctmkitten isn’t the only “kitten”-themed profile name Effie has used. Prior to adopting the alias @HouseOfEffie across her various social media platforms, Effie was @TwistedEfKitten on Twitter (Figure 22), the aforementioned @snctmkitten on Instagram (Figures 32, 33), and strikingly, @PrimalKittens on FetLife (Figure 39), the social media network created specifically for those who enjoy a BDSM/kink/fetish lifestyle. Effie herself once again helped confirm she was @PrimalKittens on FetLife when she shared the exact same profile picture of herself in a black leather corset, her hair cascading over one shoulder, that she used on her FetLife profile to her @HouseOfEffie Instagram account on May 17th, 2021 (Figure 40).
Though her FetLife profile no longer exists, preserved screenshots show that Effie was active on the social media site throughout December, 2016, using it as a platform from which to meet and sexually engage others, especially women (Figures 41, 42). Markedly, these photographs show that Effie —who bruised the woman shown here, her face redacted for privacy— is experienced in and enjoys a specific BDSM fetish in which giving and receiving bruises, marks, and swelling are all framed as a “badge of honor” and signs of “passion,” the erotic gifts from one’s lover serving as lasting visual reminders of the alchemy between both —or more— partners. Importantly, these bruises, marks, and swelling are not viewed negatively or undesirably, as they would be by many who are not involved in the BDSM/kink/fetish community.
(Interestingly, by December, 2016, Effie had already “met” and allegedly been involved in a Dominant/submissive BDSM affair with Armie Hammer for over a month, one in which Effie has claimed Hammer was abusively controlling. These images of Effie actively pursuing kinky affairs with other women while already allegedly being involved in a Dominant/submissive relationship with Hammer directly contradict Effie’s characterization of Hammer as controlling.)
As someone experienced in BDSM and especially as someone with a documented fetish for bruises, marks, swelling, and other forms of love marks, it is peculiar and yet perhaps extremely telling of Effie’s motives and intentions that, four years later, Effie would take the love marks Armie Hammer allegedly gave her and would attempt to reframe them for the world as signs of abuse (Figure 43) —something Effie clearly did not believe (Figures 41, 42) at the time Hammer would have allegedly made these marks on Effie.
Given Effie’s own independent practice of giving and receiving such love marks herself, it is far more accurate to say that Effie would have regarded these marks she alleges Armie Hammer gave her (Figure 43) as “passion marks,” “badge[s] of honor” like the ones Effie gave her FetLife lover (Figure 41, 42), and that Effie most likely photographed these marks to preserve their image as a positive, even loving memory, not a negative one.
When Effie shared a short video showcasing her bruised neck to her Instagram stories on January 14th, 2021, from which this still picture (Figure 43) is extracted, Effie almost certainly knew the vast majority of her audience would not understand the full context in which this image and the marks it shows exist; Effie herself provided no context whatsoever, and her at-the-time meteorically-expanding audience was not necessarily BDSM/kink/fetish-informed. It is thus reasonable to believe that Effie understood her audience would likely perceive these marks negatively and to Hammer’s detriment —which is exactly what happened, and perhaps, exactly what Effie wanted.
Beyond the visceral reaction such visible marks cause, however, a close analysis of the text Effie included to accompany this image (Figure 43) shows that early into her public claims, Effie was not accusing Armie Hammer of “rape,” something she began doing eventually on her social media and formally on March 18th, 2021, in a press conference alongside her attorney, Gloria Allred.
Similarly, as the post (Figure 38) by her friend Jessica M. Bair makes evident, Effie was also not telling her friends Hammer “raped” her in 2018, though it appears Effie was making them aware of her alleged affair with the actor. Additionally, when Effie posed as a “sex slave” online to complain about her stifled relationship with Hammer on DataLounge in November, 2017, just six months after the alleged rape occurred, Effie was not accusing Hammer of rape then either, focusing her vitriol entirely against Elizabeth Chambers, Hammer’s wife at the time and the mother of Hammer’s children. Effie was also not accusing Hammer of “rape” when she showed-up uninvited at the BFI London Film Festival for the premiere of “Call Me By Your Name” (CMBYN) in October, 2017 (Figure 1), nor did Effie appear concerned about triggering memories of this alleged rape when Effie drove around the Italian countryside in and around Crema, where CMBYN was filmed, to visit every location she could —alongside her friend, Jessica M. Bair— where Hammer had recently been (Figures 4, 5, 6, 7). Effie even wore a cap with the logo “Yes, Daddy?” (Figure 5) on the front, a clear reference to Hammer, whom Effie referred to and still refers to as “Daddy” (Figure 50). Effie was equally unconcerned about this alleged rape when Effie arrived, again uninvited, at the Cannes Film Festival in May, 2019 (Figures 8, 9, 10, 11), where it was widely rumored Hammer would be, despite the fact Hammer had no plans to attend as he was in London getting ready to film Netflix’s “Rebecca” and celebrating his anniversary alongside Chambers (Figures 12, 13).
Strikingly and to the contrary, as these episodes and this photograph and accompanying words (Figure 41) from Effie herself that she shared in January, 2021, all make exceedingly clear, Effie referred to, regarded, and understood her experiences with Armie Hammer on April 24th, 2017, were “intense extreme [consensual non-consent] CNC,” a type of mutually-agreed upon BDSM rape play, NOT “rape,” to the extent that Effie demonstrated no adverse effects from the experience as she traveled all around Europe in repeated yet futile attempts to continue forcing meetings between herself and Hammer. Indeed, Effie’s only lingering complaints about her experiences with Hammer were that Hammer, Effie alleges, failed to provide her with appropriate “aftercare” and ghosted her shortly thereafter.
While inadequate aftercare is regarded as a faux-pas within the context of the BDSM/fetish/kink community, and ghosting a lover —if at all avoidable— is generally frowned upon within the larger culture, neither are criminal offenses, and therefore neither are actionable, something which likely became a problem for Effie, who had begun increasingly positioning herself publicly as a #MeToo and women’s advocate intent on allegedly exposing and taking-down abusers of all kinds (Figure 44), most especially her own.
How can one be a #MeToo survivor-advocate without an actual #MeToo story?
Perhaps owing to her expanding supporting audience and the perception of what this audience expected, expectations furthered by Effie’s own exaggerated rhetoric, and/or perhaps owing to her own mercurial anger, which led to Effie making increasingly-hyperbolic public threats against Hammer, including a death threat (Figure 45), Effie appears to have at some point decided that she would in fact need a criminal and actionable allegation of some kind if she was to continue in her self-appointed role of #MeToo Avenger (Figure 44), a role Effie relished and still enjoys to this day.
It was at that point that Effie began reimagining what Effie herself admitted was a consensual CNC experience with Armie Hammer and publicly reframing it as “rape,” despite Effie’s own self-admission to the contrary (Figure 43), Effie’s own actions over the course of four —and counting— years, and Effie’s repeated rejection of any question of “rape” that curious fans and others alarmed over the content Effie was sharing began asking Effie about directly (Figures 46, 47).
In fact, very opposite the image of a #MeToo Joan of Arc Effie had begun projecting shortly after her “#cannibal” stories began trending, and in direct contradiction to her eventual claims that Hammer was/is an alleged “predator,” Effie had initially gone out of her way to encourage fans to sexualize Armie Hammer in the same ways Effie does, encouraging some female fans to “shoot [their] shot…!” (Figure 48) with the actor by reaching out to him directly over private message, as Effie once had, while encouraging others to fetishize Hammer (Figure 49) as Effie still does.
Perhaps the most telling of these conversations is this one (Figure 50), a large portion of which is shared here, in which Effie specifically describes and encourages in others her fetish for Armie Hammer’s hands. “I worship his hands,” Effie tells the woman she is communicating with. “I bet your [sic] his hand felt fucking giant on your neck,” the woman replies, asking Effie for more details because, she says, she wants to “project” Effie’s sexual experiences with Hammer as her own while having sex with her own partner. “This could be so fucking cathartic for both of us, you can cum by remember [sic] him and I can cum by reading it,” the woman adds. Effie “❤️”’s nearly all of the woman’s messages, signaling her approval.
Armie Hammer, Effie reassures the woman, has “Huge hands,” hands that “can snap your neck in a second, but slowly squeezing it instead until you start to pass out,” Effie remembers lovingly (Figure 50). “I just want to cum in this subway I'm rn [sic] haha,” the woman replies. “He was such an amazing Daddy yes,” Effie continues to reminisce about Hammer longingly. “Yessd [sic]” the woman answers.
As this conversation makes clear, the marks on Effie’s neck (Figure 43) that Effie has since tried to misrepresent and mischaracterize as signs of abuse are almost certainly the result of Effie’s fetish for sexual asphyxiation, otherwise known as chocking, which Effie references lovingly in this conversation (Figure 50) with a fan and which Effie almost certainly requested herself, as she did in sexts Effie sent Hammer on July 18th, 2020 (Figure 51).
“Choke me pass me out,” Effie begs Armie Hammer (Figure 51) in July, 2020, more than three years after Effie claims Hammer raped her in Los Angeles on April 24th, 2017. Despite Effie’s attempts to reframe the marks on her neck she alleges Hammer gave her (Figure 43) as signs of something dysfunctional and even nefarious in her alleged relationship with the actor, as Effie’s own words repeatedly make clear, the type of BDSM/kink/fetish play that led to the creation of those marks on Effie’s neck is exactly what Effie loves and asked for.
“He was such an amazing Daddy,” Effie said (Figure 50).
Why did Effie change her story?
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