After suffering a devastating accident on New Year’s Day in 2023, Jeremy Renner is reflecting on the near-death experience. The 53-year-old revealed in a new interview that he believes he briefly died after he was crushed by a snow plow and opened up about what he felt and saw during that time. Renner even said that he’s “excited” for death after catching a “glorious” glimpse of it.
RELATED: Jeremy Renner Gives First Interview on Horrific Snowplow Accident: “I’d Do It Again.”
On Jan. 1, 2023, the actor was operating a snow plow in Nevada, where he lives, along with his 27-year-old nephew, Alex Fries. They were towing a pickup truck out of the snow, and when Fries got out of the snow plow to disconnect the car, the snow plow began to slide, as reported by Variety. Fearing for his nephew’s safety, the actor neglected to put on the parking break while sticking his leg out to check on him, then fell out of the snow plow. When he tried to get back inside to stop the snow plow, he was crushed.
The Hurt Locker star suffered from numerous injuries, including eight broken ribs, broken bones in both legs, a broken shoulder, a collapsed lung, a punctured liver, and a broken jaw and eye socket. There were over 30 breaks in total. His representative told Entertainment Tonight at the time, “As of now, we can confirm Jeremy is in critical but stable condition with injuries suffered after experiencing a weather-related accident while plowing snow earlier today.”
The Avengers actor was able to heal from his injuries and had titanium implants placed in his body during multiple surgeries. During a recent appearance on James Corden’s SiriusXM show, This Life of Mine With James Corden (via Entertainment Tonight), Renner opened up about the accident and how it changed his feelings about life and death.
Warning: Graphic images and descriptions in video above.
“I was never afraid, mind you, of death prior,” the 53-year-old said. “Now, I’m really not afraid of it. Now, I’m double downing. Yes, certainly not afraid of it. Now, I’m kind of excited for it. To be honest, it’s what life really is. This rock that we’re spinning on and this body and this language that we’re speaking and all these feelings and emotions and conflict is all horse [expletive]. It’s meaningless in the scheme of things.”
Renner also described the emotions he felt when he believed he was dying.
“Recovery is like a one-way road. I wasn’t going to come back from death, which I thought was glorious, by the way,” he told Corden. “I don’t know if it’s fading into consciousness or just fading out of like heart stoppage.” Corden asked what Renner remembers from that moment. “That everything was, all life was grand,” he said. “All life just got better. It’s an energetic thing. There’s no time, place or space or color or anything. It’s just a known peace.”
Only three months after the accident, Renner spoke out for the first time in an April 2023 interview with Diane Sawyer. “Last night, I didn’t sleep for [expletive] knowing I was going to have to talk about it today,” he told the ABC News host (via Variety). “I have no regrets. I’d do it again. I refuse to have that be a trauma and be a negative experience. That is a man that I’m proud of, because I wouldn’t let that happen to my nephew. I shift the narrative of being victimized, or making a mistake, or anything else. I refuse to be [expletive] haunted by that memory that way.”