Jeremy Renner Reveals Even Deeper Extent of Injuries in First TV Interview Following Nearly Fatal Accident
The actor sits down with Diane Sawyer in a tell-all airing next month.
Jeremy Renner is set to open up about the full extent of his New Year's Day accident in his first formal interview since, which appears to take place from the comfort of his own home.
In a preview released for an upcoming ABC News special with Diane Sawyer, the Marvel actor sits in a chair across from her—no casts or braces to be seen—and details the traumatic incident. He admits that he "was awake through every moment," remembering "all of" his seven-ton snowplow pulling him underneath its track and crushing him, causing more than 30 broken bones and a stay in the ICU.
At one point, Sawyer reads off his laundry list of injuries, going into even further detail; in the end, Renner survived “eight ribs broken in 14 places. Right knee, right ankle broken. Left leg tibia broken, left ankle broken, right clavicle broken, right shoulder broken. Face, eye socket, the jaw, the mandible broken. Lung collapsed; pierced from the rib bone, your liver..." As Sawyer puts it after trailing off, it all "sounds terrifying.”
Even so, Renner is confident that he'd do it all over again, since he was injured while trying to prevent the machine from hitting his nephew, whose truck was stuck in the snow.
"I just perfectly see him in a pool of blood coming from his head," the nephew in question, Alexander Fries, recalls in another clip. When the man ran up to his uncle in the aftermath, he didn't think he was still alive.
In a snippet of the 911 call, a man's voice is heard gravely saying, "There's a lot of blood over here," after encouraging first responders to hurry. As the actor groans in the background the caller continues, "He's in rough shape," before telling Renner to "keep breathing, man." He adds, "Keep fighting. Hang in there, brother."
Renner also remembers wondering what his body would like after all he'd been through that day. “Am I just going to be a spine and a brain, like a science experiment?” he thought.
But he was determined to do "whatever it takes" to restore his health, noting to Sawyer, “I chose to survive. That’s not gonna kill me, no way.” He adds, “I’ve lost a lot of flesh and bone in this experience, but I’ve been refueled and refilled with love and titanium.”
At the end of the day, when he looks in the mirror, all he sees is "a lucky man."
Jeremy Renner: The Diane Sawyer Interview – A Story of Terror, Survival and Triumph is scheduled to air on April 6 at 10 p.m. EST on ABC, in advance of the April 12th premiere of Rennervations on Disney+.
Related: See Jeremy Renner's Major Recovery Milestone Following Near-Fatal Accident
