- Actor Jeremy Renner was critically injured in a snowplow accident in Nevada on January 1.
- Jeremy broke 30 bones in his body, and his lung collapsed.
- Jeremy opened up about the accident in an interview with Diane Sawyer.
- Jeremy is set to release a musical diary.
Jeremy Renner nearly died after he was run over by a snowplow in Nevada on New Year’s Day. The 52-year-old Hawkeye star heroically saved his nephew from the seven-ton snowplow and was flown via helicopter to a nearby hospital, where he was treated for his near-fatal injuries. Three months after the incident, Jeremy made it through the recovery process, which involved learning to walk again.
In an interview with Diane Sawyer for ABC News, he opened up about the terrifying incident. During the interview, Jeremy revealed the full extent of his injuries from the accident. Jeremy had already confirmed he had broken over 30 bones, but now we know exactly how brutal the accident was on his body. Below is the full list of Jeremy’s injuries in the accident, followed by what he’s had to say about what he went through that fateful day.
- 8 ribs broken in 14 places.
- Right knee broken.
- Right ankle broken.
- Left leg tibia broken.
- Left ankle broken.
- Right clavicle broken.
- Right shoulder broken.
- Eye socket broken.
- Mandible broken.
- Lung collapsed.
In his chat with Diane, Jeremy revealed that he “was awake through every moment” of the snowplow accident. He reflected on what he remembered from the immediate aftermath of the incident. “What’s my body look like? Am I just going to be like a spine and a brain, like a science experiment?” he said. The Marvel star’s nephew also recalled seeing Jeremy right after he was run over. “I’d just perfectly see him in a pool of blood coming from his head. I ran up to him. I didn’t think he was alive,” the nephew said.
Jeremy also shared photos from the accident, showing how close he came to dying. His neighbors in Reno, Rich Kovach and his partner Barb Fletcher, rushed to help when they saw him bleeding into the snow. “It was blood — the amount of blood — and he was just in such pain and the sounds that were coming out of him,” said Rich. “There was so much blood in the snow, and then when I looked at his head, it appeared to me to be cracked wide open.”
When speaking with Diane, Jeremy admitted that he considered prepping for end-of-life options. The Hurt Locker star told his family, “Don’t let me live on tubes on a machine.” He also implored him that he didn’t want to live the rest of his days in pain. “If my existence is going to be March 26 and painkillers, let me go now,” he admitted.
“I was awake through every moment. It’s exactly what you would imagine it would feel like,” he said to Diane. “Too many things are going on in the body to feel pain, it’s everything. It’s like if your soul could have pain.”
Thankfully, the exact opposite happened. During his recovery, Jeremy kicked smoking. He also dropped 20 pounds. He shared this revelation when speaking with Jimmy Kimmel on the Apr. 10 episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, telling the host that being run over by the plow was like being under “a giant metal cookie roller.” Jeremy also said that miraculously, It just missed every vertebra [and] did not hit any organs. My brain did not swell.”
“My eye did pop out,” he added. “That’s weird. But I got pretty lucky that none of the organs got messed up.” During the chat with Diane, Jeremy recalled how he could “see my eye with my other eye.”
Jeremy kept his fans updated throughout his recovery process. He had to undergo “electric stimulation workouts” as part of his recovery program. Jeremy shared the first video of himself walking on March 26, nearly three months after the accident. The Mayor of Kingstown star walked on his own on an anti-gravity treadmill. He previously rode a stationary bike while sitting down in late February, showing how much progress he was making after the accident.
Jeremy said he’s making “great progress” in his recovery journey on his Instagram Stories May 4. The actor shared a video of himself walking on an anti-gravity treadmill. “Lower pain levels mark great progress,” he wrote on the video. “Making recovery… and surpassing goals. A daily habit!” Jeremy shared another video of himself exercising and said he’s “decided to push through the pain of progress” to work out his body.
In December, Jeremy took to Instagram to share a photo of himself sitting on a dock overlooking the water with his daughter Ava Berlin Renner, 10, and revealed he has a musical project, including a single called “Wait,” coming out on the one-year anniversary of the snow plow accident. “New musical diary — story of life, death, recovery, all things learned along the way,” he wrote in the caption, which can be seen above.”‘Wait’ lit Jan 1. I can’t wait to share more with you. #waitforme #laketahoe LINK IN BIO ….”
Jeremy almost lost his life in the accident, but he has no regrets about what happened. He told Diane in their interview that he’d repeat the heroic act that almost killed him since he saved his loved one’s life. “Yeah, I’d do it again, because it’s going right up to my nephew,” he said. Jeremy also said that he feels “lucky” to be alive and is looking forward to getting back to regular life. “I chose to survive,” he said. “I’ve lost a lot of flesh and bone in this experience, but I’ve been refueled and refilled with love and titanium.”