Jeremy Renner in Saudi Arabia on Dec. 10, 2024. Photo:
Daniele Venturelli/Getty
- After a near-death accident in January 2023, Jeremy Renner opened up about getting back on the snowplow that ran him over
- I didn’t want this thing to haunt me or own me by any means,” he explained during an April 29 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
- Renner noted that his experience driving the snowplow was fine, but it was “interesting” when he got off and had to step on the plow’s track, which he had been pulled under
Jeremey Renner didn’t let his horrifying snowplow accident keep him from getting back onto the vehicle that nearly took his life.
The 54-year-old Marvel star was run over by the 14,300-lb. Snowcat plow, similar to ones used at ski resorts, in Reno, Nev. on Jan. 1, 2023. He suffered severe injuries that left him hospitalized in critical condition and prompted a years-long recovery.
Renner recounted his experience recovering after the accident in his memoir My Next Breath, which arrived on Wednesday, April 29. That evening, he appeared on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, where he spoke about his decision to get back onto the snowplow the following winter.
Jeremy Renner snaps selfie in the hospital after January 2023 snowplow incident. Jeremy Renner/Instagram
“I go right into the eye of the storm of any fear or anything,” Renner told host Jimmy Fallon when asked about why he got back onto the machine. “I didn’t want this thing to haunt me or own me by any means.”
He noted that it wasn’t hard to drive the snowplow again, which he referred to as being “like a tank.”
“It was just interesting getting off of it because you have to step on the tracks to get off this thing. And I saw, like, little pieces of my clothing in it still. And some other things that I don’t want to say,” Renner recalled.
Getting back on it did give the Hawkeye star a sense of closure in a way.
“I just kind of wink and like, ‘Ha, I made it. You can’t beat me.” And I just kind of walk away,” Renner admitted. “It’s kind of like breaking up with your girlfriend you hadn’t seen in a while, and you get back together. And you’re like, ‘Yeah, you ain’t that good looking.’ “
Renner was hit by the snowplow while saving his nephew from being run over. A sheriff’s report obtained by CNN at the time of the accident reported that the actor was “pulled under the left side track.” He was left with more than 35 broken bones.
He recounted the severity of his injuries, noting that he could see “my left eye with my right eye” in his memoir.
Jeremy Renner works on his recovery after January 2023 snowplow accident. Jeremy Renner/Instagram
“Writing about it has been very emotionally cathartic to have to go word by word through it all again,” the Mayor of Kingstown star told PEOPLE. “I don’t not talk about it. It’s part of my life every day, and it’s always a wonderful reminder of the strength of the human spirit and how fragile the body is and how badass it is at recovery.”
“I’m not haunted by the incident — not too often anyway — by the images, the sounds,” he continued. “But I am reminded of my new reality, and it’s wonderfully positive. I didn’t die.”
In May 2024, he spoke to PEOPLE about his recovery process and how it would last for the rest of his life.
“I had to accept it for the rest of my life. There’ll be nothing normal or as it was prior to the accident,” he admitted. “By the way, I’m okay with that. It’s making my life better. I’m healthier because of it.”
Renner added, “Recovery will be until I’m out of this old hot mess of a body. It was a way for me to really accept that it is going to be forever.”
