"Not today, motherf—er!": Jeremy Renner recounts near-fatal snowplow accident
Just the night before, actor Jeremy Renner had celebrated the New Year with his family on Mount Rose, Nevada. The next day, January 1, 2023, was a beautiful day for skiing but an accident left Renner fighting for his life when he was crushed under a moving 14,000 pound snowplow.
In a recent ABC interview with Diane Sawyer, Renner details the gruesome injuries he sustained, including over 30 broken bones and a crushed eye socket that was rebuilt with metal plates.
“Do you remember the pain?” asked Sawyer.
“Oh, all of it, yeah,” he said.
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An animation shows that Renner, who had been driving the snowplow, had opened the door to step out to warn his nephew to move out of the way. But he had failed to set the vehicle on park and fell off as it began to roll. But when he tried to climb back on to stop the machine, he fell right in its path.
He remembers screaming, “Not today, motherf—er!”
Neighbours Rich Kovach and his partner Barb Fletcher were at the scene and they recalled how there was so much blood in the snow.
In a recording of the 911 call at 8:55 am that morning, Renner can be heard in the background moaning in pain.
“He just got a clammy feel to him and turned this grey green colour and I feel in my heart, I feel like I lost him for a second,” said Flether.
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While at the hospital, Renner was unable to speak. But he had something to say to his family so, in sign language he said, “I’m sorry.”
And on his phone he managed to type a note to his loved ones that read, “Don’t let me live on tubes, on a machine. And don’t, if I have my existence going to be on drugs and painkillers. Just let me go now.”
But Renner recovered with his mom staying next to his bed and reading a Stephen King book out loud just so that he could hear her voice.
Doctor Christopher Vincent told Access Hollywood that despite fears that Renner would be left a paraplegic or a quadriplegic, the snowplow “miraculously” missed most of his vital organs and spinal cord.
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Renner’s sister has turned his LA home into a rehab centre and with regular therapy, the actor has managed to go from using a wheelchair, then a walker, and now, just a cane.
“My mom is proud of me. I’m going to the bathroom on my own,” he said with a laugh.
When asked if Renner would be able to return to his full-time job, Vincent said that within a year, he expects him to be “running, jumping, flying through the air.”
But Renner is in no rush to do his own stunts.
“Do you dream of doing those stunts again?” asked Sawyer.
“I’m okay with the stunt guy doing it. I’m 52, it’s fine. I’ll be in my trailer,” he said with a laugh.
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