Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, sweepstakes, and more!
Jeremy Renner thanks supportive fans in first post-accident message
The Marvel star endured surgery for blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries after a New Year’s Day snowplow mishap.
It’s good to see Jeremy Renner looking alert and, most importantly, alive in the wake of the serious accident he suffered Sunday, a snowplowing mishap that put the Marvel star in the hospital in critical condition on New Year's Day.
In his first social media communication since being injured Jan. 1 near his Nevada home, Renner (who likely had a little help, given his condition) shouted out followers on Instagram with a photo post that showed him looking visibly bruised, but seemingly in good spirits, in a selfie-style snap taken from his hospital bed.
“Thank you all for your kind words,” Renner captioned the shot alongside a praying-hands emoji. “Im too messed up now to type. But I send love to you all.”
More details about Renner’s ordeal emerged Jan. 3, two days after the accident in the Lake Tahoe region of Nevada where recent heavy snowfall has created outdoor hazards like the one that sent Renner, a resident of the area, to the hospital. The Washoe County, Nev. Sheriff’s Office streamed a press conference to clarify “misinformation” about the incident, noting that investigators “do not believe Mr. Renner was impaired at all and we believe this is a tragic accident.”
According to Washoe County Sheriff Darin Balaam, Renner was struck by the snowplow he had used to successfully clear a path for his snowbound vehicle, which at the time was reportedly occupied by a family member.
“Mr. Renner’s personal vehicle, which was being driven by a family member, had become stuck in the snow near his home. Mr. Renner went to retrieve his PistenBully [a brand of snowplow] or snowcat, an extremely large piece of snow removal equipment weighing at least 14,330 pounds, in an effort to get his vehicle moving,” said Balaam. “After successfully towing his personal vehicle from its stuck location, Mr. Renner got out of his piston bully to speak to his family member.”
The snowplow at that point started rolling, with Renner responding in an attempt to re-enter the driver’s seat. “It’s at this point [that] Mr. Renner is run over by the PistenBully, and a witness detailed seeing Mr. Renner getting into the PistenBully and not seeing him again until it came to rest in a pile of snow in front of his driveway,” the sheriff said.
Via NBC News, Renner underwent surgery late Sunday “for blunt chest trauma and orthopedic injuries” sustained in the accident. Sheriff Balaam, already acquainted with Renner as a fellow resident of the Tahoe-area community, said the two-time Oscar nominee is “a great neighbor” who often pitches in to help. “Throughout the community, he has been very generous,” Balaam said. “And he's one of those individuals that I can tell you most of the time, you don't know that he's doing it.”
Renner is among the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s most enduring current stars, having played Clint Barton aka Hawkeye in a slew of Avengers-themed MCU films as well as a single season of Hawkeye at Disney+. More recently, he’s appeared at the center of the Tyler Sheridan-created series Mayor of Kingstown, with the show’s second season set to premiere starting Jan. 15 at Paramount+. Disney+ also is tapping his good-guy reputation in Rennervations, a soon-to-launch docu-series that follows Renner’s passion for reaching out.
