Actor Jeremy Renner has opened up about his harrowing snowcat accident earlier last year, reflecting on the many ways his near-death experience has changed his outlook on life.
“I can go on and on about what happened, the 45 minutes being on the ice. But the real learning lessons from it—there’s so many great gifts [from] being tested to your limits, right? Your physical limits, your spiritual limits, right? Emotional limits, um, it’s like, I won’t have a bad day for the rest of my life,” he added. “It’s impossible, right? There’s that gift.”
‘It Was Brutal’
Mr. Renner’s accident occurred on Jan. 1, 2023, at his home in Reno, Nevada. According to the “Mayor of Kingstown” star, the area had experienced about 12 feet of snow over the course of three days, leaving the actor and his household without electricity for several days.“We were trapped in the house,” he told Mr. Fallon. “We had a break in the weather and so I wanted to get people outside and have fun. And to do that, I had to clear the road.”
Mr. Renner attempted to use his snowcat—an enclosed vehicle equipped with tracks for navigating through snowy terrain—to assist his nephew, whose truck had become stranded in the snow. At some point, Mr. Renner exited the more than 14,000-pound machine as he was pulling the truck out of the driveway. The actor explained that things “got out of control” from there and he was crushed underneath the heavy vehicle.
“The machine got out of my hands, and it was running into my nephew and gonna crush him between the truck and the thing,” he said, referring to the snowcat. “So I jumped back on it, or tried to, and got caught up in the tracks, and, um, and it broke 38 bones, and it was brutal.”
In graphic detail, Mr. Renner said he could see his own eyeball after the horrific accident because it had become dislodged due to damage to his eye socket. He also suffered 14 breaks in his ribs.
“So you just have, like, weird things kind of go through your head, right? It’s like, ‘Well, I guess that’s real, but like, I’ll worry about that later.' And I looked at my legs; they were all twisted up. And I’ll worry about that later because I’ve got to worry about breathing first, right?” he shared.
Despite how traumatic the entire incident was, Mr. Renner said talking about his experience has been cathartic and has helped him to heal.
Outpouring of Support
Mr. Renner told Mr. Fallon that he didn’t panic and remained calm throughout the ordeal, which allowed him to stay focused on surviving.“Look, in order to walk, you have to put one foot down and then another foot in front of it. And then you’re walking. Just like breathing, I had to exhale with all my might so I [could] suck air back in. Didn’t know I had a popped lung and all this other stuff going on. But I just had to breathe. If I didn’t breathe then I would have been gone, right?”
“Forget the eyeball and all the titanium and the broken bones—doesn’t matter, right? So think of it step by step. I think it’s a really great reminder of what we all should be looking at in life. If we get too stressed, or if things get too difficult, or if it’s insurmountable odds, or whatever it might be—it’s just put one foot down and then put another foot down and then move towards it,” he added.
Against all odds, Mr. Renner is making headway on a full recovery, spurred by the outpouring of support he has received following the accident.
“There was so much goodness and goodwill that came my way,” he recalled. “You know, I didn’t think that existed. And I certainly believe it now. I think it’s ultimately what got me to survive and come back and be strong, and I'll be stronger than I’ve ever been as I continue in my recovery. But that collective of goodness and people ... it’s astounding.”
