Armie Hammer 'Wants to Prove Himself and Win Back Credibility' After Controversy (Exclusive Sources)

After Armie Hammer resurfaced to discuss his "career death" on a recent podcast episode, a source close to Hammer tells PEOPLE that the actor, 37, is ready to work again as an actor.

“He wants to prove himself and win back credibility by clawing his way back into Hollywood," the insider says. "He doesn’t want to be seen as taking favors.”

Adds another source: "He hasn't been leaning on family money or what people might think because he's a 'Hammer.' It seems like he's really put in the work with treatment."

Hammer, who made a name for himself in Hollywood with roles in movies like 2010's The Social Network and 2016's Call Me By Your Name, has acted in only two movies since 2021. The actor's career has been on pause since allegations of sexual and physical abuse first surfaced in 2021. He last appeared in 2022's murder mystery Death on the Nile, which was filmed before his controversy.

His exes Courtney Vucekovich and Julia Morrison alleged in the 2022 documentary House of Hammer that the actor had sent them text messages and voice notes describing cannibalistic fantasies, among other instances of alleged abuse.

While appearing on the June 16 episode of the Painful Lessons podcast, Hammer called allegations that he was a cannibal “bizarre," but said he now feels "grateful for every single bit" of the experience "because where I was in my life before all of that stuff happened to me didn't feel good."

“There were things that people were saying about me that just felt so outlandish … that I was a cannibal," he said during that podcast appearance. "Now I'm able to sort of look at it with a sense of distance and perspective and be like, 'That's hilarious.' Like, people called me a cannibal and everyone believed them.”

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“How am I going to be a cannibal?" he added. "It was bizarre, right?”

The Call Me By Your Name star divorced from his ex-wife Elizabeth Chambers in 2020; the former couple, who share two children, reached a settlement in June 2023.

According to the source, Hammer and Chambers have been co-parenting well together after ups and downs following their split. "She was shocked and hurt. While she's been rebuilding her life and focusing on her own passions, she also wants what's best for the kids and has been supportive of Armie," say the source.

While Hammer denied all allegations of physical abuse made against him in a 2023 interview with Air Mail, he admitted to acting emotionally abusive toward ex-partners and said at that time that he was sexually abused by a youth pastor when he was 13.

"What that did for me was it introduced sexuality into my life in a way that it was completely out of my control. I was powerless in the situation. I had no agency in the situation," he said in that interview. "Sexuality was introduced to me in a scary way where I had no control. My interests then went to: I want to have control in the situation, sexually."

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.