The actor’s perspective on life after his accident – ​​Deseret News

In January 2023, Jeremy Renner had a near-fatal snow plowing accident in which he suffered 38 broken bones.

More than a year after the accident, Renner appeared on Wednesday night’s episode of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” to recount the “brutal” experience.

Before Fallon asked him to describe the accident in detail, he asked Renner if he would like to talk about it.

“I think it’s quite cathartic,” the Marvel actor replied. “It can be very healing.”

Renner’s “eyeball was out” after accident

Renner told Fallon that the snowplow accident affected his loved ones as much as him, and that what happened to him was “much more other people’s story than mine.”

“This happened to my parents, this happened to my poor daughter. This happened to my poor nephew. He was there,” Renner said. “So this incident affects everyone, right?”

Renner and his family were “trapped in the house” for several days due to the heavy snowfall. They had no power and several vehicles were buried by the storm. Renner was trying to “clear the road” and free vehicles when he was hit by a snow plow.

The actor was riding a Sno-Cat and assured Fallon that he was used to operating the machine, but due to the “terrible conditions” the machine broke loose.

“As I was pulling the truck out of the long driveway, I got stuck… the machine slipped out of my control. It would have run into my nephew and crushed him between the truck and the thing,” Renner recalled. “So I jumped back on – or at least tried to – and got caught in the chains… and broke 38 bones. It was brutal, man.”

Renner announced that his left leg, the right side of his back and half of his face were reconstructed with metal.

“There were 14 fractures in my ribs and … you could see your eye with the other eye because my eyeball was sticking out,” he said.

“You just have weird things going through your head, don’t you? Like, ‘Well, I guess this is real, but I’ll worry about that later.’ And I looked at my legs. They were all twisted. ‘I’ll worry about that later,’ because I had to worry about breathing first.”

Fallon asked Renner if he panicked during the accident. Renner replied, “No. That can’t be. You’ll die.”

Marvel actor Anthony Mackie was one of the first people Renner spoke to

Several of Renner’s Marvel colleagues visited him during his recovery, Renner said.

Anthony Mackie, who stars opposite Renner as Falcon, was one of his first visitors. Renner woke up in the hospital after being on life support for three or four days, and then the visitors arrived, including Mackie.

“Anthony Mackie was actually one of the first people I saw when I woke up,” Renner said. “It’s like a wake. Everyone comes to say goodbye. But at least Mackie was there. He was really worried! He was in Las Vegas, so he was able to get to Reno pretty quickly.”

Renner continued, “Receiving that much love is very difficult for anyone.”

“I will never have another bad day in my life”

“There are so many great gifts in pushing yourself to the limit – the physical limit, the mental limit, the emotional limit. I will never have a bad day for the rest of my life. That’s impossible, right? That’s a gift,” Renner said.

Through the experience he also learned “not to panic and to concentrate,” he said.

The accident left Renner with a ruptured lung and difficulty breathing, and he had to face the challenge “one step at a time,” an attitude he applies in his daily life.

“When we get too stressed or things get too difficult or the obstacles are insurmountable or whatever, just put one foot on the ground and then the other.”

“I think I can achieve anything at the moment,” he added.

Watch: Jeremy Renner on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”