Surviving My Birthright

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This memoir details the author's experiences growing up as the only granddaughter of American billionaire Armand Hammer. While from the outside, anyone might expect that she grew up in luxury and excess, in reality, Casey grew up in an abusive situation, feeling unloved and forgotten, and her whole adult life has been marred and overshadowed by her dysfunctional childhood and unhappy family. No, I don't want the gory details of her abuse, but what I wanted were more stories of the chaos that made up her childhood. Like the story about her father's crazy ex girlfriend who tore his house up, and tried to kill Casey while wearing a bed sheet like some kind of halloween ghost and the time her brother and father got into a very public fight over her brother's girlfriend. There are parts of this story that are very hard to read. Casey experienced and witnessed absolutely horrible abuse and violence. Her whole life, she seems desperate to earn the affection and attention of her parents and grandfather, with little success. The depictions of drugs, physical violence or threats of it, brandishing of guns, rape, and more were wild. Yet in the public eye, the family presented itself as a philanthropist with a loving and stable family. In the 'House of Hammer' trailer, Casey continues, "I know my grandfather had a dark side, but I saw my father's dark side firsthand. And I've seen my brother's dark side. It was like a monster unleashed. Now it's Armie Hammer. Every generation in my family has been involved in dark misdeeds, and it just gets worse and worse and worse. I've let the Hammers control me my whole life. It's time to stop. I refuse to be silenced. My name is Casey Hammer and I'm about to reveal the dark twisted secrets of the Hammer family." In 2021, the Los Angeles Police Department finally announced that Hammer was under sexual assault investigation after multiple claims of non-consensual BDSM, rape, and physical and emotional abuse.

Her tone was downright depressing. It sounded like she was bored to death to have to fulfil l her obligation to the publishing house. From what little I absorbed of her story’ this is just another thing in this woman’s life that is unfinished. In the end, I felt like this book was more for the writer than the reader. It may have been therapeutic for Casey, but, without ever delving into any one subject deeper than she does, I felt like I didn’t get out of it what I was hoping to, if anything at all. Maybe she is dealing with the same with her therapy? Maybe she gets to a point, but can’t handle breaking through because of the pain or humility? Casey works as a kitchen designer for Home Depot and lives in San Diego, according to a 2021 Vanity Fair expose on the Hammer family. She is estranged from the rest of the Hammer clan, and this new House of Hammer series is her a chance to shine some light on a history of darkness.Armie Hammer, the disgraced 'Call Me By Your Name' actor has been in news over cannibalism and sexual abuse allegations. Now, an explosive docuseries by Discovery+ claims to expose Hammer like never before. In the docuseries, she will reveal for the first time on camera the inside story of the Hammer family saga. She is giving access for the first time into her personal archives and new revelations providing a compelling, first-hand account into the Hammer family’s rise and fall and her own descent and escape from the darkness. The series will also feature accounts from other survivors who have recently come forward. All of a sudden, I’m in a bad Stephen King novel,” Casey told Vanity Fair about the fallout from the will. “My father is worried about why Michael [Julian’s son, Casey’s brother, and Armie’s father] got the Rolls-Royce. And I’m like, ‘Dad, you don’t understand. You’re going to be out on the street, no one’s paying for your house, no one’s paying for anything.'” I continuously want to scream where are the details for this journey that she wants us to believe she has taken ! Casey’s great-grandfather, Dr. Julius Hammer, gave a wife of a Russian diplomat an abortion in 1919. At the time, Julius was a Russian immigrant living in the Bronx and was a central member of the Communist Party of the United States, according to biographer Edward Jay Epstein, who wrote Dossier: The Secret History of Armand Hammerin 1996 (per Vanity Fair). The woman died days later after the operation, and Julius was convicted of first-degree manslaughter.

Families are systems, microcosms. Every family is different but the inner/external dynamics can be very similar within the historical/social context. Armie, of course, was accused of rape in 2021 by a woman named named Effie Angelova. “On April 24, 2017, Armie Hammer violently raped me for over four hours in Los Angeles,” she said in a press conference in March of that year. “During which he repeatedly slapped my head against a wall bruising my face. He also committed other acts of violence against me to which I did not consent.” Casie was not surprised.Casey Hammer, who is estranged from most of her family and works as a kitchen designer at a San Diego Home Depot, said,“As a survivor I want to help empower others to speak up and know that they are heard.”

I didn't even know who Armand Hammer was until I watched the documentary House of Hammer. I couldn't believe the perversity that was passed down by the men in that family. Casey has not hesitated in revealing the dark side of her family, In a 2021 report by Vanity Fair, she exposed Hammer's father, Michael Hammer, and his mindset of a teenage boy and how he had a sex throne in the Armand Hammer Foundation Office. In a self-published 2015 book, 'Surviving My Birthright,' Casey also accused her father Julian of sexually assaulting her when she was a child and projecting the same behavior toward other members of the family. Casey Hammer, Armie Hammer's aunt, exposes the Hammer Family and their dark secrets in 'House of Hammer' amid sexual assault allegations on Hammer (YouTube/Discovery Plus)This book was not as expected story-wise, I bought it after watching the Armie Hammer documentary. It was described as telling the story of an entire family’s habits being passed down. Instead, it was about stuffed animals and how unfair, and badly done by she was for not being given a Mercedes and access to unlimited cash, but then in the next breath, how she had million dollar weddings (three of them). I agree that the story deserves a more emotionally invested and passionate narrator’s voice. Unfortunately Casey’s not gifted in that regard and does sound very monotonous. If you’re after an audiobook with the sole purpose of being entertained, don’t buy this book. This is about the story, not entertainment. Casey was far too numbed and damaged emotionally in her past, to the point of being unable to feel or handle any true feelings and emotions for a long time. I understand that can come from the constant dissociation she resorted to during the repeated raping and abuse inflicted by her brother and her father; that dissociation translates very much in the way she reads out her own life story. Casey's story is incredibly important and I'm glad she was brave enough to share it. A lot of people weren't happy about her exposing the sins of the Hammer family, especially her brother Michael. One of the journalists that was on the documentary mentioned discovering Casey's book. Casey herself was on the documentary and I was astounded by what she had been through.

I have read 100's of books and I always find something positive in regard to following the story but this has nothing to offer . The detail of the writers daydreaming and the imagery details as explained are nauseatingly ridiculous . Wow ! Casey Hammer who belongs to quite a notorious wealthy family has written a personal memoir of the abuse and depression she suffered as a member of this family .Now, for the first time, Casey Hammer will tell not just her story, but the definitive family history, leaving no stone unturned,” read a statement on the series, per Deadline. “With new unfolding revelations and present-day consequences, this mini-series will provide audiences with a riveting journey into a family where reputation is everything and where things are never how they appear.” Her Family Has A Long History Of Scandals